Screenshots from my first Instagram Live Palestinian embroidery class (free!), March 21, 2020. Does anyone remember the class when a bee started buzzing nearby? I transitioned to Zoom by April 2020 so I didn’t have to teach on the patio anymore.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, I began teaching virtual Palestinian embroidery classes—first through free Instagram Lives, and then through structured sessions on Zoom. For a brief moment, I was the sole person providing Palestinian embroidery instruction in real-time tatreez classes online—something unprecedented at the time.
This visibility quickly led to opportunities, including being invited to participate in the inaugural training for the Smithsonian Museum who had hoped to transition art instructors, including myself, from in-person classes to virtual. There, I helped guide their transition to virtual art instruction, training both instructors and staff in how to teach effectively online.
It was in this moment of sudden accessibility that I witnessed the universalization of Palestinian embroidery taking shape in real time. With this came thoughtful, and at times extraordinarily difficult critique from within the Palestinian community. Many expressed valid concerns about the risk of cultural appropriation: that this widespread visibility could allow non-Palestinians to profit from our traditions, or worse, present the Palestinian struggle in a way that felt sanitized or palatable to the “metropolitan elite.” While it was deeply painful to learn that some within the Palestinian community felt my work was sanitizing our struggle for freedom to make it more palatable to American and European audiences, I did my best to listen with humility, take that wisdom to heart, and shift how I teach. I have to be honest, to this day, that feedback still hurts.
Ultimately, I took these concerns seriously. I agree with the feedback: if you are going to teach Palestinian embroidery—or hold any public platform rooted in cultural heritage—you must stand to critique. I believe our work as Palestinian embroidery instructors in the diaspora must be guided by three ethical commitments:
Honor knowledge lineage by offering detailed, accurate citations that reflect the depth and continuity of Palestinian culture.
Correct misinformation immediately when you make inaccurate statements about our history or practices.
Stay accountable by accepting feedback from peers, elders, colleagues, and the wider community when it is offered in a spirit of care.
In response to the critical reflections shared with me by other Palestinian artists—and to the broader questions about how cultural visibility can open the door to appropriation—I issued the following statement as part of my Community Guidelines.
Since then, I’ve heard from former students who have become instructors themselves that this language has served them in shaping their own practice. I share it now with the same intention: to be of use.
Take it. Use it. Spread it. Reference it. And above all—cite it.
Wafa Ghnaim, "Teaching Tatreez in a Digital World: A Statement on Cultural Appropriation,” The Tatreez Institute (blog), March, 22, 2025, https://www.tatreezandtea.com/tatreezing/2025/3/-teaching-tatreez-in-a-digital-world-a-statement-on-cultural-appropriation.
Appropriation of Palestinian Arts & Culture
Appropriation, authorship, and ownership are important conversations in the art world. Appropriation is the practice of selectively using pre-existing objects and images in artwork, without referencing the original work. The act of appropriating can be confusing, because different communities and artists view borrowing, appropriating, and copying in various ways.
The TI defines the appropriation of Palestinian arts and culture as the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption, practice, wear, use, or sale of Palestinian motifs, needlework, customs, practices, ideas, and traditional methods by a non-Palestinian. It is important that customs, beliefs, art, and culture are shared across and between communities, but it is not appropriate for non-Palestinians to seize aspects of Palestinian arts and culture and profit from them.
Those that do not identify as Palestinian, or have no Palestinian familial or ancestral origins, are encouraged to learn, share and appreciate the art form. Purchasing or learning Palestinian embroidery from a Palestinian organization or individual is appropriate — under the condition that they cite the Palestinian origin of the piece, as well as the historical and cultural context. It is considered inappropriate for non-Palestinians to produce, learn or use Palestinian embroidery, and then sell or adopt the art form as their own.
The TI firmly believes that the preservation and practice of traditional Palestinian embroidery must center and uplift Palestinian voices. Wafa does not support any non-Palestinian student (past, present, or future) of the TI to adopt, practice, wear, or use Palestinian motifs, embroidery, and techniques for profit or charity. Wafa teaches Palestinian embroidery to non-Palestinians under the condition that they do not appropriate, adopt or assimilate the art form in any public or private forum, whether it is for profit, charity, or otherwise.
Students participating in the TI must agree in the belief that only Palestinians should serve as the culture bearers of textile traditions originating in historic Palestine — and that the sale or adoption of Palestinian embroidery by other cultures and individuals only increases its endangerment.
Any act or expressed interest in appropriating Palestinian arts and culture merits the immediate termination of studies with the TI without refund, and the individual(s) will be removed immediately. Violation of this policy is considered so severe that individual(s) will be banned without any guarantee to return or restore their relationship with the instructor. Furthermore, the instructor reserves the right to share her experience with others to prevent the individual(s) from endangering the art form any further.
Please note that the same policy applies to any cultural study provided in the TI, including Syrian textiles and dress.