Weaving to Reclaim: A Collaboration Between Fatme Elkadry and Fern Facette
Collaborator Fern Facette’s reflections on this work can be found here
Live studio visit with collaborators Fatme Elkadry and Fern Facette was held on May 3, 2022. Watch the recorded conversation below.
Weaving to Reclaim is an experimental journey that explores and reclaims diminishing Palestinian heritage, craft, and identity. This work is fueled by a long term artistic collaboration between myself and Fern Facette. Together, we design and weave textiles that explore the colours, natural dyes, fibres, and motifs of my homeland, Palestine. Fern utilizes her weaving skills, honed over decades, to support and mentor me as a new weaver reconnecting with this practice that is ancestral to my hometown, but lost due to colonialism.
Weaving to Reclaim is a four part series of handwoven studies that explore a variety of traditional Palestinian textiles. Each study incrementally builds to the final piece in the series: a handwoven Kaffiyah, a scarf that distinctly symbolizes Palestinian identity.
Our first completed study includes three woven pieces that are simultaneously functional objects and works of art: a table runner, placemat, and nine amulets. Made of sturdy linen and cotton fibre, the colours of the pieces match the colours chosen by Palestinian rug weavers decades ago — vibrant tones of red, black, and white. They have motifs of amulets and the Kaffiyah inlaid through the centre, translated into a woven structure by my mind and carefully manipulated by my fingers. The nine amulets I designed are inspired by my region, the Galilee, which commonly featured embroidered amulets on clothing.
This study spanned ten months and held space for moments of grief, celebration, and life changing discovery. The resulting pieces are a tactile and visual representation of the laborious hours, physical and emotional exhaustion, and meticulous attention that goes into reviving, reclaiming, and reimaging my heritage. They are a testament of my struggle against active colonial erasure by remaining vigilant in preservation.
- Fatme Elkadry
About the Artists
Instagram: @weavingtoreclaim
Fatme Elkadry (she/her) is a first-generation settler on Amiskwaciwâskahikan from Safad, Palestine. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and has studied visual art, fine craft, graphic design, prose, and performance art through a variety of experiential opportunities, including formal education and personal mentorship. Fatme utilizes her art practice to explore and express her identities. She passionately advocates for barrier-free and equitable involvement of all folks in the arts. Fatme’s favourite things in life are her mom, magpies, and purple figs.
Jessica Fern Facette (Fern, she/her) is an Edmonton based fibre artist who has been weaving for nearly two decades. She is a passionately engaged artist who shares knowledge and encourages others to discover textiles. She founded Fern’s School of Textile Craft in 2017, a place where fibre artists from across Canada meet to carry on the long tradition of sharing skills and knowledge. Fern is a stalwart advocate for the accessibility of textile arts and has created many opportunities for folks to explore textiles through years of volunteering, mentoring and most recently an in-studio textile residency. Fern’s own weaving is an exploration of colour, pattern and texture.