The Story of Widad Kawar and the Foundation of Tiraz

The history of Arab dress

There was a time, when from Nablus to Bethlehem, Ramallah to the West Bank, from Madaba to the Jordan Valley, the stories of tribes & their memories were actively woven into embroidery. Between the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries details of variations in style, color and pattern of dress were used to reflect cultural and family affiliation, birth, marriage and death, as well as social structure.

After the 1948 and 1967 Wars this form of embroidery became a national symbol for Palestinians in particular. Relegated to refugee camps and scattered across the corners of the Middle East, these imaginative patterns woven into fabric began to evoke, like the Orange Trees of Jaffa, or the village life of Nablus, a beauty lost through War.

As modernity advanced, it affected Jordanian dresses as well. In Jordan, a temporary situation became ever more permanent, and the memory of societies and townscapes decked in the color of these fabrics began to fade. In the monochrome fog of a never-ending struggle old ways of being became ‘traditional’, and the dress of a previous generation became at best a ‘luxury’, and at worst an anachronism.

Few at the time realized that within these seemingly quaint robes precise information on social morphology, on the cross-fertilization between Jordanian, Syrian, Bedouin and other Arab cultures, as well as geographical and other ethnographic details had been encoded in a visual language.

Mrs. Kawar's story

“The house I grew up in was different from other homes. The women that my mother collected the dresses from were always around us throughout my childhood, and even later during my adulthood.”

Mary Kawar

Widad Kamel Kawar was born in Tulkarem, in the Nablus area of the West Bank. The family soon moved from Tulkarem to Brummana, Lebanon, and then, in 1941, to Bethlehem. Widad received her education in the Ramallah Quaker School. During some vacations the family would go to Aboud, her mother’s village, in the Ramallah area. Ramallah and Bethlehem, both considered significant cultural heritage centers in Palestine, had a tremendous impact on Widad as a young girl.

It was during those vacations that Widad fell in love, and began to appreciate, the nature of Palestinian village life in the 1940s. She learned about costume and embroidery, as well as the intricate social relations of the village, particularly among the women. She remembers how every day after lunch the women of Aboud, old and young, would put on their best clothes to get together and embroider. On one occasion a relative gave her two “Thobs” – or “traditional costumes” – one of which dated back to the 1800’s.

This was the beginning of The Widad Kawar Collection.

Kawar, Widad Kamel . Threads of Identity: Preserving Palestinian Costume and Heritage. Nicosia, Cyprus: Rimal Publications, 2011 (9,18).

“The house I grew up in was different from other homes. The women that my mother collected the dresses from were always around us throughout my childhood, and even later during my adulthood.”

Mary Kawar

Kawar, Widad Kamel . Threads of Identity: Preserving Palestinian Costume and Heritage. Nicosia, Cyprus: Rimal Publications, 2011.

1967: A New Reality

Later, Widad married Kamel Kawar and moved to Amman where her husband and family had settled. She started a family, all the time continuing her own work. Widad was a member of the YWCA as well as the Women’s Auxiliary of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a special body created after the Palestinian exodus in 1948. She also volunteered in Hussein and Wihdat refugee camps, in Jordan.

After the 1967 war, she was confronted with a new reality: the villages of Palestine, and the country itself, were now occupied. Widad began to collect genuine examples of the attire of each geographical area in Palestine more purposefully, afraid that they would be lost or influenced by the emerging refugee camp styles. She collected marriage dresses from happier times, cushion covers and home decorations, as well as handicrafts, weaving and pottery. Only later did she begin to truly understand why she was doing this.

Kawar, Widad Kamel . Threads of Identity: Preserving Palestinian Costume and Heritage. Nicosia, Cyprus: Rimal Publications, 2011 (18, 22).

A pioneer in preserving the Arab textile heritage

Today, Widad is a patron of the preservation and modernization of the Arabic dress as an art form both in the Arab Region, and beyond. She mentors writers, journalists, researchers and museums from her house in Amman which is always open – and which for many years has housed the collection in its entirety.

She has been a pioneer in raising the awareness of the value and importance of Arab textile heritage, through exhibitions in Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Jordan, Iceland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. She has also published several books and articles.

Widad Kawar has received medals from the government of Jordan for her work, and recently received the Prince Klaus International Award for Culture and Development for “her invaluable contribution to securing global cultural heritage.”

Awards
2014: Directorate of Heritage Award of the Government of Sharjah
2012: Prince Klaus International Award for culture and development
1992: Jordan Tourism Medal for her role in organizing the Seville World Expo
1993: King Hussein Medal
1986: Medal for Jarash Festival

Highlights from the collection

Created over the course of a lifetime the collection includes more than 2000 pieces of wedding garments for women and men, everyday wear, children’s garments, head veils and dresses for women and men, as well as jewelry and amulets, home utensils and religious robes. It ranges from the simple and homespun to forms of craftsmanship, for example the use of gold and silver plated thread, which are extremely rare.

The Collection is about much more than preserving the past. It is about renewing it, for many generations to come.

“Palestinian history has been written in many forms. But the most beautiful and profound form was written by the women of Palestine from the north of Palestine to its south with the needle that embroidered those dresses that were colored by the sun”

Nasser Soumi, Palestinian Visual Artist

Bethlehem dress, 1888

This dress from Artas village near Bethlehem is made of handwoven silk and linen fabric. It was used for festive occasions, and is called Malak. It's beautiful pointed sleeves are typical of the region, and can be used to great effect while dancing. On the dress are examples of both cross and couching stitches, the two main stitches of Palestine.

Experiencing the heritage of Arab dress

To be celebrated and understood, a collection must be seen and experienced. Words alone cannot capture the spirit and intimacy of the embroidered patterns; the sensitivity, diversity and the richness of their forms.

History has been communicated in many forms; from the architecture of the pyramids, to the gold leaf of Byzantium, to photography, art and film in the modern era. It is time that costume, textile and embroidery – specifically that created in the area of the Levant over the past two centuries – became recognized as a valuable, colorful and intricate form of history in its own right.

Tiraz curates, describes, and explores these forms, expressed in the seams of each garment, in a way which historians and visitors from all over the world are able to appreciate and remember.

2015 -: The Permanent Collection
The permanent exhibition celebrates the vibrant creativity, artistic cultural legacy and home-grown costume industry of Palestine and Jordan from 1880 to 1950.

At the heart of the exhibition is a table with examples of fabrics and stitches unique to each region of Palestine and Jordan. Guests are invited to touch the fabrics on this table -- so they may feel as well as see the beauty of the region's stitches.

2015: Golden Threads of Bethlehem

On Sunday, January 25th 2015, under the patronage of H.R.H. Princess Muna Al Hussein and H.R.H. Princess Wijdan Al-Hashemi, TIRAZ Center officially opened its doors to its first exhibition, entitled ‘Golden Threads of Bethlehem,’ which celebrates the vibrant creativity, artistic cultural legacy and home-grown costume industry of Bethlehem from 1880 to 1948.

The city of Bethlehem was selected as the first theme for the opening exhibition for several notable reasons. From a sentimental perspective, Bethlehem was the hometown of Widad Kawar, where she was gifted her first two traditional dresses “thob,” serving as the inspiration behind her collection.

Bethlehem was also selected to recognize the historical significance of the city as an innovator in the fashion industry and the starting place of the unique and influential couching technique.

The exhibition highlights the history and significance of Bethlehem; various arts and crafts from the area; the influence of the couching technique on surrounding villages and the Jerusalem area; as well as a celebration of the accomplishments of four pioneer women in the art of embroidery.

The highlight of the exhibition is a gorgeous display of various masterfully embroidered dresses fit for a queen: the “malak” costume. Lastly, the exhibition includes a number of art pieces from the collection of Dr. Hisham Khatib.

“Golden Threads of Bethlehem” also featured several interactive activities, such as the ’ Craftsmanship Challenge,’ an organized treasure hunt for the youth; as well as several lectures and embroidery workshops to be held on selective dates.

2017: Ya Hafeth Ya Ameen

The temporary exhibition is a collaboration between the collections of Widad Kawar and Sami Moawiyah Yousef, focusing on protective silver adornments from Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Oman.

International loans

The collection is internationally renowned and has been included in several exhibitions around the world. Tiraz welcomes requests to lend items from the collection to exhibitions that are open to the general public and raising the awareness of the value and importance of Arab textile heritage.

• Bunka Costume Museum - Tokyo, Japan [1982 & 1992]
• The National Museum - Singapore [1985]
• Rautenstrauch Joest Museum - Cologne, Germany [1987]
• Institute du Monde Arabe - Paris, France [1988]
• House of Culture - Berlin, Germany [1990]
• Moesgard Museum - Arhus, Denmark [1991]
• National Anthropology Museum - Gothenbourg, Sweden [1992]
• University Museum - Stockholm, Norway [1992]
• National Museum of Mersyside - Liverpool, United Kingdom [1993]
• National Art gallery - Reykjavik, Iceland [1994]
• Darat el Funun - Amman, Jordan [2002]
• Ritterhausgesellscdhaft Museum - Bubikon, Switzerland [2003]
• Stadt Museum - Lindau, Germany [2008]
• Quai Bramly, Museum - Paris, France [2011]
• National Gallery - Amman, Jordan [2011]
• Historisches Museum - Basel, Switzerland [2012]
• Naturhistorisches Museum - Nürnberg. Germany [2013 - 2014]

In addition to several other regional exhibits in Jordan, Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. As well as, other international exhibits, including but not limited to the United Kingdom, France and Lebanon.

A Living Archive

Tiraz is connection to memories and histories that an entire generation was never given the chance to experience, and yet are eager to rediscover. Our mission is to remember, restore and revive the vibrancy of Palestinian, Jordanian and Arab costume heritage in a new institutional setting which is accessible, open, and fun.

The collection is preserved in a climate-controlled environment, to slow the passage of years and decay. A living archive is being created- based on research and oral testimony – to ensure that the collection remains fully documented for researchers in the region and world-wide. Tiraz has and will continue to welcome journalists, researchers, novelists, artists, fashion designers and students of all levels. Volunteers have added to the community of Tiraz, coming from as far as Chile and Germany, and as close as Amman, Jordan.

Tiraz is not a place for what has been. It is a place for remembering and learning the value of what still exists to this day; a place where cultural forms are experienced as well as studied, and the traditional finds its place alongside the modern.

A large part of this is working with local experts and organisations to revive traditional handicrafts, by running specialized workshops on embroidery and handicraft techniques, with a focus on economic viability, creativity and mentorship.

Workshops

Through these workshops the Tiraz Center is able to not only preserve examples of embroidery, but also encourage its perpetuation in future generations.