'Vital' Palestine dress exhibition linked to Humza Yousaf's wife Nadia El-Nakla to open at V&A Dundee
Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine, will open on Thursday at the V&A Dundee.
An exhibition of Palestinian traditional dress is to go on show in Scotland, marking the 45th anniversary of a “radical” twinning of a Scottish city with one in the West Bank.
Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine will open on Thursday at the V&A Dundee. The display on the history of tatreez – the elaborate hand-embroidery that tells stories of women’s identities, grief and changing lives - brings together more than 30 historical dresses from Palestine, alongside veils and headdresses, jewellery and accessories, and archival photography.
The exhibition has been created in collaboration with the Palestine Museum in Birzeit in the West Bank. The showcase includes an embroidered dress worn by Dundee city councillor Nadia El-Nakla at the Scottish Parliament in 2023 for the swearing-in ceremony of her husband, former first minister Humza Yousaf.
Ms El-Nakla has family who were in Gaza when the recent conflict began in October 2023, including her parents, who were visiting her brother. The family was eventually able to flee through the Rafah Crossing into neighbouring Egypt, where they were able to fly back home to Scotland.
Dundee was twinned with Nablus, Palestine in the 1980s - the first UK city to be officially twinned with a city in the territories.
The V&A said the twinning was considered by many at the time to be a “radical act”. Since then, the Palestinian flag has been displayed at the City Chambers in Dundee, even during periods when the flag was outlawed within Palestine.
Telling the story of the historic connection between Scotland and Palestine, the exhibition also shines a spotlight on Gaza, showcasing spectacular historical dresses from villages across the region, including a dress damaged in the bombing of the Rafah Museum in 2023.
Leonie Bell, director of V&A Dundee, said: “Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine is an exhibition that through research, collections and partnership explores the traditions and material culture of Palestinian dress and the vast range of regional styles that tell important stories about the lives of the women who made, adapted and wore these dresses, jewellery, headdresses and accessories.
“The exhibition also explores the 45-year-old connection between Dundee and Nablus, a twinning relationship that has brought these two cities together, and it celebrates contemporary Palestinian design and creativity from Dundee, Scotland and across the UK.”
The exhibition culminates in an exploration of embroidered dress today, including looks from contemporary Palestinian fashion designers building upon inherited cultural traditions. Work by contemporary artists engaging with tatreez will sit in conversation with the traditional dress on display, alongside interviews with Palestinian embroiderers.
Ms El-Nakla said: “I am delighted to welcome Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine to V&A Dundee. Design and culture are peaceful and powerful forms of resistance and solidarity. Palestinian fashion and dress express ideas about who we have been, who we are and the lives we want to live in peace and with dignity.”
She added: “This exhibition is opening at a time of extreme pain and suffering. It’s bringing design from Palestine to life and tells the stories of women’s lives in Palestine. I am proud that my dress, or thobe, that I wore at the Scottish Parliament is there as an expression of my Scottish-Palestinian identity, and as a symbol of solidarity, hope and peace.”
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