*OPEN TO SWANA FOLKS ONLY*
Registration ahead of time is required
- Class time: Friday, July 3rd 3:30 - 4:30pm
- Location: SWANA Rose Culture + Community Center (2948 NE Mlk Jr Blvd Portland, Or)
- Accessibility: All events at SWANA Rose are masks required. Please wear a KN-95 or better. Presenter will be unmasked for presentation, but will have done two covid tests 48 hours apart. We will have masks available if you do not have your own. Please stay home if you’re not feeling well. SWANA Rose does not currently have an ADA accessible bathroom.
SWANA Stitch Presents:
Thinking About SWANA Dress Research
Instructor: Wafa Ghnaim, The Tatreez Institute
In this one-hour session, Wafa will review the different types of written and illustrative sources available on Syrian and Palestinian dress, as well as the challenges and opportunities they present for preserving cultural heritage. Which sources are colonial, and how might we critically engage with them? Which sources are shaped by capitalist frameworks, and what use can we make of them?
Wafa will also propose citation practices and research methodologies adopted in First Nations art historical research, alongside a new approach to documenting oral history through the Relational Citation System (RCS). Together, participants will consider how to thoughtfully engage with the library at SWANA Rose, learn how to integrate oral histories into written research, and gain insight into the methodologies other Indigenous communities have developed to decolonize their archives and systems of documentation. Participants are welcome to bring books, photographs, and archival documentation to include in our discussion and collective analysis.
A gentle note that the instructor will not be providing dress identification or consultations during this session. If you are a researcher, student, or writer, and will incorporate this session’s guidance in your future work, please disclose in advance to the instructor. All interest levels are welcome to join.
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Wafa Ghnaim is an art and dress historian, fashion researcher, embroiderer, educator, and the founder of the Tatreez Institute, specializing in Southwest Asian traditional fashion and embroidery. She is the author of Tatreez & Tea (2016) and THOBNA (2023), with research published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Singapore. A former instructor at the Smithsonian, Senior Interdisciplinary Fellow and Research Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and commissioned designer for Victoria & Albert Museum’s Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine, Wafa continues her preservation work as a Mellon Foundation Research Fellow at the Museum of the Palestinian People.
