Artist Biography

Rawan Hassan

(she/her) is an interdisciplinary visual artist based on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonial known as “Vancouver”. Her works explored the complex relationship between preserving and evolving Palestinian craft traditions, such as tatreez (embroidery). She explores materials that embody the questions of what was and what could possibly be through textile-based artworks and drawings. Her hope, is that her practice might open up the conversations on Palestinian identity, grief, resilience, resistance against erasure, ongoing occupation, colonization and potential forms of Palestinian futurism.

Learn more about Rawan by visiting her:
Instagram at https://instagram.com/Oddbiscuit

Exhibition Abstract

In Rawan Hassan’s solo exhibition, Here/After, Amulets in Ritual, she confronts the tenuous connection to hope in the face of the ongoing violent occupation in her homeland through a new series of tatreez-based work. These new works, a collection using protective amulet designs, moves stitch-by-stitch to close the gaps between acts of rebellion and fills the pauses with an invitation to convene together in the overwhelming limbo of distance and waiting for liberation. This exhibition does not argue the need and worth of protecting loved ones and instead Hassan imbues these pieces with a belief that beyond the Israeli occupation of Palestine, there is a deserving and unbound future for the Palestinian people that has always been worth fighting for, however you can, from wherever you are.

Artist Statement

Every night I woke up in 1-to-2-hour intervals to check the news, methodical in witnessing all the horrors that I was shamefully sleeping through. A witnessing that sunk one’s belief in humanity. A witnessing that repeated the horrors into a compounding nightmare. A witnessing that attempted to crush hope that has been passed down generationally.

And yet, amongst the unbelievable despair that came from it all, I continued making; searching for a lifeline to keep sustaining myself, a space to safely cry into, a home to build from and create, came a prayer. Cross-stitching amulet symbols of protection, repeatedly created a realm to feel as close to home, Palestine, as one can; a prayer. Not an escape from reality but rather an acknowledgement of what was happening with a thread of held hope. Making a vision of where we will be in the future, a home with liberation held within us. A prayer stitched in, a prayer repeated – we are still here.

Tactile Objects (welcome station)

The works on the wall and hanging above in the gallery are not to be touched. The plaster and clay tiles in the media lab can be touched.

There are tactile objects associated with the gallery displayed works, provided by the artist, to be explored through touch, available at the welcome station. The following is a description of those objects:

1. Watermelon Seeds from Palestine (in plastic container): dried seeds, pale coloured and ridged along the edge.

2. Cypress wood (in plastic container): A diamond or rhombus shaped piece of wood, it’s growth or xylem lines darkly visible against the body of light wood. A single hole has been drilled into the top to allow a tread to pass through.
   
3. Wooden beads (3 sets in plastic containers): round blue beads made of glass and wood, each with a hole that passes through to allow the passage of thread. They are available in three sizes with the smallest and largest beads a darker, blueberry colour, and the middle size a light blue of the sky.
   
4. Olive leaves (in plastic container): dried olive leaves, the same colour as the fruit, the delicate thin leaves have a prominent midrib running the length of the body from which the leaf curls up and away to the margins.

5. Embroidery sample: Red and orange cotton thread embroidered onto black cotton aida cloth. The patterns depicted show 6 vertical columns of repeating triangles and a perpendicuar row of six diamonds. A single straight line bisects the piece running between the third and fourth column and between the third and fourth diamonds.
   
6. Embroidery sample 2: On paper, an example of the embroidery in Galilean Amulets ii on the west wall of grunt gallery. The pattern depicts a quintet of squares; the four corners are embellished with line work that begins at the corner point and fans out. The centre piece has a border of triangles around a cross with a circle in its centre.
   
7. Embroidery thread: a skein of thick, 6-strand purple thread wrapped on a cardboard card.
   
8. Tracing paper: a thin piece of white paper, easily wrinkled.

8. Two tactile maps are available for the show. The first is a 2D map showing a top-down (bird’s-eye view) of the gallery and full first floor, including the media lab and washroom. The second map is a 3D dollhouse, which only depicts the gallery and has clay and paper objects to help orient you and assist with wayfinding through the gallery. Both maps are used as references in the creative audio tour on tracks online and on the yoto player in gallery.

Exhibition Works

Galilean Amulets i-v

Galilean Amulets i

Visual Description: (A textile work in traditional Palestinian Tatreez: The embroidery is stitched onto black aida cloth using colourful threads.) The central horizontal panel features a grid of squares and diamonds in alternating rows. Each diamond shape is paired with a neutral-toned cypress wood insert, and each square embroidered with a horizontal central line of smaller diamonds, between rows of triangles Thinner, vertical panels of aida cloth with matching stitched motifs are positioned to the left and right of the central piece. A final cypress wood diamond dangles from the edge of each work.

Galilean Amulets ii

Visual Description: (A textile work in traditional Palestinian Tatreez: The embroidery is stitched onto black aida cloth using colourful threads.) The central horizontal panel features a grid of squares, each featuring a unique embroidery of a diamond. In alternating squares, the centre diamond frames a vertical line of hand-made beads. Two thinner, verbal panels of aida cloth with matching stitching, featuring a single column of 7 squares sits to the left and right of the central piece. Moving out, another set of aida cloth is embroidered with 3 columns by 2 rows of detailed squares. Finally, a shorter pair of single column embroidered squares, 5 in total, are positioned on the outside right and left.

Galilean Amulets iii

Visual Description: (A textile work in traditional Palestinian Tatreez: The embroidery is stitched onto black aida cloth using orange and cream threads.)The work features a grid of triangular and stepped geometric forms arranged in vertical columns. Each column repeats a motif of embroidered triangles, with tassel-like stitched extensions descending from the top corners of each triangle. Hanging down along the angled peaks of the triangles are olive leaves stitched into the Tatreez. The full work is composed of five separate pieces: three narrow single-column panels alternating with two wider double-column panels, creating a symmetrical sequence across the wall.

Galilean Amulets iv

Visual Description: (A textile work in traditional Palestinian Tatreez: The embroidery is stitched onto black aida cloth using pink and purple threads.) The embroidered pattern features repeating diagonal rows of geometric zigzags and comb-like motifs, where a dense central line is flanked by jagged purple and pink shapes. Each vertical band contains multiple repetitions of this pattern, creating a continuous visual rhythm across panels. In places, dried watermelon seeds have been stitched onto the embroidery.

The full work consists of seven panels. A central rectangular panel contains four full columns of the stitched pattern. It is flanked on either side by two narrower vertical panels, each showing one full column. Further outward, two square panels show partial columns of the same motif. The smallest panels sit at the far left and far right edges and contain a single abbreviated vertical repetition. The sequence of panels is symmetrical from the center outward: small, square, narrow, central, narrow, square, small.

Charcoal Rubbings of Galilean Amulets i-iv

Visual Description: Charcoal rubbings on white paper. The marks reveal a symmetrical layout made of repeated diamond and square motifs, some with inner radiating lines and others filled with smaller geometric symbols. In the 2 line columns, several diamonds cluster into a dense star-like shape, while a thinner line made of repeating squares and diamonds extend parallel along the composition.

Hanging in 5 different locations are a string of objects suspended from the rubbings. Separated by a few finger widths are a few blue wooden beads, an olive leaf, a cypress wood tile, and a watermelon seed.

Galilean Amulets Plaster Tiles i-iv

Visual Description: Plaster tiles, 2 cm in height, with variable widths and lengths, show raised impressions of embroidered patterns made up of diamonds and triangles in repeating patterns. The edges and impressions are subtle and difficult to see as if they have eroded, with light cracks and imperfections.

Galilean Amulets Clay Tiles i-iv

Visual Description: Clay tiles, each resting apon a melamine slab. The clay is grey with impressions of embroidered line work pressed down into the material. Each tablet is about 2 cm in height, with variable widths and lengths. The melamine on which they rest is the mould from which they were created. Many of the clay slabs are cracked through from where they were removed from the mould.

Creative Access Audio Tour – Transcript

Introduction

Welcome to grunt gallery’s creative access audio tour of Here/After, Amulets in Ritual, the exhibition by artist, Rawan Hassan. My name is Chris Slater. I am a biracial settler on these stolen and unceded Coast Salish lands and I will be narrating this audio tour. This tour was written by Kay Slater, the accessibility and exhibitions manager and preparator here at grunt, who assisted in installing this work. We welcome your feedback as we develop more creative access tools for our gallery and exhibitions.

This tour has four chapters, with the fourth chapter divided into 7 parts. At the start of each chapter, you will hear this sound of a page turning:

[Page turning]

After this intro is Chapter One where we will detail entering the space and orienting yourself in the gallery. In Chapter Two, we describe the welcome station and the objects available for you to use and touch. Chapter Three covers grunt’s facilities, washrooms, and C-Care stations. If you’re ready to tour the show, skip to Chapter Four, where we will read the wall didactic and walk through the show. If you are skipping ahead, be aware that the welcome station has 2 tactile maps to help you navigate this tour. When we move to a new artwork, you will hear this sound:

[Oud, plucked string]

Each artwork description within Chapter Four is divided into its own audio part so you can skip or return to an artwork description as you move through the show at your own pace.

Let’s get started with Chapter One.

[Page turning]

Chapter 1: Physically Entering the Space

When approaching grunt gallery at 350 East Second Avenue from the accessible drop-off on Great Northern Way, follow the sidewalk to the building’s main entrance. Turn left at the entrance, and you’ll find us at the first exterior door, unit 116. A low-grade ramp leads to our front double doors, with automatic door buttons at waist and ankle level on a post to the right. Be cautious of the small lip at the threshold, a potential tripping hazard. Excluding Thursdays, masks are now optional at grunt; if you forgot yours, we have extras near the entrance and will not enforce their use outside of Thursdays for low-sensory and voice-off visiting hours.

Welcome to grunt gallery! We are situated on the occupied, stolen, and ancestral territory of the Hul’qumi’num and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, specifically the land of the X’wmuthqueyem, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and aud peoples and families. We are grateful to be here.

The current show has installations on the wall and hanging above. The only floor hazard is a long bench positioned in the centre of the space. There is generous space to move around and through the gallery. Please note, we have tactile objects to explore in the welcome station, but the works on the wall are delicate and not to be handled. If you require assistance and are not greeted by staff upon entry, please call for help. Staff are in the office and will assist you as soon as possible. We are always happy to walk the show with you.

The public gallery space is a white cube with 20-foot walls on three sides and a 12-foot south wall that opens for 8 feet before reaching the ceiling, providing light to the loft office space beyond. The office is not visible from the gallery, except for a large convex mirror that allows staff to see visitors. A tone rings when people enter the space.

On low-sensory and voice-off Thursdays, a staff member will be available but will not greet you, allowing you to move at your own pace. If you are non-visual, call out for help anytime. If you are sighted, please silently approach a staff member. We have hard-of-hearing staff on site, so a visual wave may be required to get their attention.

[Page turning]

Chapter 2: grunt gallery’s welcome station

As you enter the gallery, immediately to the right on the west wall is a sanitization and welcome station. The station is white with black labels in English, high-contrast icons, and some braille labels. There are three open shelves, including the top surface, two pull-out shelves below, and two closed drawers with d-hook handles.

On top of the welcome station is our gallery spider plant, Comos, who is watered on Wednesdays. The top surface holds a leather-bound guestbook with a black pen, a bottle of hand sanitizer, and a box of masks with tongs. A digital tablet allows you to browse the exhibition page on our grunt.ca website or access our Big Cartel eCommerce store.

On the first pull-out shelf, on the left, is the exhibition binder with large print information about the space, the show, the artist, a transcript of this tour, and the exhibition map. These are also available in braille. On the right are a series of tactile objects. Our tactile objects are creative access tools designed to create a point of entry for non-visual, Blind, or partially sighted guests who may wish to experience the work through touch or by bringing the objects close. However, tactile objects are also sensory objects that can be used by sighted folks who wish to feel a connection to the work and those who enjoy or are supported by having objects in their hands to touch. 

These tactile objects are provided as a sensory point of entry into the works and are not necessarily representative of the work or equivalent to experiencing the works through explorative touch. We do not present these objects assuming that you have never had access to seeds, beads, or embroidery, but we are also not assuming that you have had these experiences. Smell them, hold them, observe them. Use them however you need as you engage with the show.

On the second pull-out shelf, to the left, are laminated maps of the space. Also within these shelves are two tactile maps. A tactile dollhouse map of the gallery, and a flat 2D tactile map which includes the spaces past the gallery box. Use the dollhouse and 2D tactile maps to follow along with creative access tour. Works are indicated by unique shapes glued to the ground or wall of the dollhouse map with show features indicated by braille markers A through G.

To the right of the maps are two Yoto audio players with large, friendly buttons. These players contain this tour and audio of any text within the binder. There is also a scannable, laminated QR code card that links to this audio tour. On Thursdays, the Yoto players are moved to their carrying cases for use with headphones.

Below these are the two closed drawers. The first contains carrying cases with straps for headphones and the Yoto audio devices, allowing hands-free use as well as stimming objects created by local artist, and grunt’s board president, veto. 

The lowest drawer contains earmuffs for large and small bodies, specifically for those with noise sensitivities.

That concludes the description and tour of the welcome station. In the next chapter, we will tell you about the washrooms and care stations. If you’d prefer to continue with the exhibition tour, skip to Chapter Four.

[Page turning]

Chapter 3: The Facility and Amenities

If you need to use the washroom, it’s at the far end of our space. Exit the gallery through the doorway and continue following the west wall (to your right when you entered). Pass by the media lab, and when you reach the back wall, take a left and walk through the small kitchenette to our single-room, gender-neutral washroom.

If you’re using the 2D tactile map, the washrooms are located at I.

An automated door button to the right holds the washroom door open for 14 seconds. Inside, to the left of the door, is the lock button which creates a visual indicator that the washroom is in use. To exit, you can open the door manually or hover your hand over a button above the sink, below the mirror.

Near the exit button is a vertical cubby stack of supplies. Please help yourself to items like hair ties, disposable floss, sanitary napkins, and condoms. This is part of our C-Care program, Community Care for Artist-Run Events.

Speaking of C-Care, we have a tea station in our media lab to the right of the media installation. If you need some energy, you can help yourself to a drink or a puréed fruit snack. This offering may occasionally be put away for the current show, but you can always ask our team for a drink or snack.

If you’re using the 2D tactile map, the C-Care tea station is at location H.

Also here is a colouring station for people of all ages. Take a pause and a break here before returning to the gallery and continuing the tour. We now arrive at Chapter Four, where we will begin the exhibition tour next to the welcome station, as if we had just entered the gallery and stepped right to sanitize our hands and grab a map.

[Page turning]

Chapter 4: A – The Exhibition Tour, Introduction

If you’re using the tactile maps, we are at location A near the front of the gallery. The front of the gallery is marked on the dollhouse by a wall of cutouts to represent the many windows.

On the wall behind and above the welcome station is wall didactic text in black vinyl that reads:

Here/After, Amulets in Ritual

Rawan Hassan

Curated by Whess Harman

February 6 – March 21, 2026

The title is written in title case with a slash dividing the word Here and After. Here slash after.

In our welcome station within our exhibition binder is the exhibition abstract and artist bio. Later in the run of the show, we will have an exhibition publication available along with a curator’s essay. Any texts in the binder are on the YOTO audio player in gallery, or available by scanning the QR code or tapping the NFC code on the wall near the welcome station.

The walls are painted white, a matte, flat neutral colour, and the baseboard trim is a dark plum. The show comprises 7 works installed on 3 of the gallery walls, suspended from above on wire cables that span the width of the gallery, and laid out in the media lab, the room adjacent to the gallery. There is a bench in the centre of the space. If you need assistance moving through the space or viewing any work, please feel free to call out for help while on-site or contact a staff member for assistance before you arrive in gallery.

The laminated map, available at the welcome station, list the works in the following order:

• Galilean Amulets ii, 
• Galilean Amulets i
• Galilean Amulets iii,
• Galilean Amulets iv,
• Charcoal Rubbings of Galilean Amulets i-iv, 
• Galilean Amulets Plaster Tile i-iv, and
• Galilean Amulets Clay Tile i-iv.

Rawan uses Roman numerals in her work titles.

This order assumes you will go counter-clockwise around the gallery, returning to the welcome station to look up at the banners above, and then travel through the media lab. We will follow a slightly different course in this tour, beginning with the rubbings suspended above, moving clockwise, and then ending in the media lab.

As a reminder, when the tour physically moves, you will hear the following sound:

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: B – “Charcoal Rubbings of Galilean Amulets i-iv, 2026”

If you’re using the tactile maps, we are moving from the welcome station (A) to location B, near the front door and looking up at the gallery’s ceiling. In the dollhouse map, the lid can be lifted off so that the drape of the paper banners can be explored tactilely.

Turning away from the welcome station, and looking up, the ceiling is obscured by long, paper banners, draped over lines of tight wire cable. The 7m banners run from the entrance towards the back of the gallery, four banners wide. Each length is draped over the wires with a different amount of paper arching down between each line, giving the banners a dynamic feeling of flow and movement. Facing down from the lightweight tracing paper are repeated marks and patterns made by rubbing charcoal over the paper laid atop the Tatreez embroidery installed on the walls of the gallery. These embroideries will be described as we move through the show.

Rawan shares:

“The reason why I started doing Tatreez rubbing was I wanted to reproduce it quickly and fast, but not in a way that was consumerist. Tatreez is such a labour-intensive medium that I wanted a way to replicate it through an opposite way; where it was kind of dirty and fast and quick.”

The charcoal is high contrast on the white paper, the natural light from the wall of windows illuminating the area above and behind it. The gallery lights that illuminate the other gallery works are installed almost at the same height and are not turned towards the paper sculptures. Also, while the charcoal is very defined and visible, it is blurry at the edges where the charcoal has touched the paper or smudged in handling. It is a replica, but it is not exact.

Rawan continues:

“I wanted to create impressions of the Tatreez. I think, in a lot of ways, that being diasporic, you feel like an impression of something rather than the actual thing. So I wanted to recreate that feeling of being an impression of something. 

My other thinking around the charcoal rubbings was that they kind of have a dreaminess because they’re kind of blurry. Whenever I talk to fellow Palestinians, they will often describe the inability to dream, where there’s no sense of being able to dream. And it’s definitely something I’ve had to put into practice; learning how to dream. So I wanted to create something that could possibly capture that and bring that forward.”

Suspended in 5 points from the wire above within the expanse of floating banners are a string of objects  also featured in the Tatreez installed below. Separated by a few finger widths along a white piece of cotton thread are a few blue wooden beads, an olive leaf, a cypress wood tile, and a watermelon seed.

Rawan shares:

“I used DMC pearl cotton thread because it’s the thread that was most prominently used by Palestinian women since the late 1800s. I think it was just more accessible back then, but I’m not sure why.

It is thicker, and I like the finish of it, because you have the typical six strand thread, and then this one is pearl cotton, so it’s just two strands. And I just like the finish of it more.”

At the welcome station, Rawan has provided a piece of clean tracing paper, a small square of embroidery, and a skein of floss for you to explore. All the objects that are suspended from above are also available in small containers and are described as the tour progresses.

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: C – “Galilean Amulets iv, 2026”

If you’re using the tactile map, we are moving from location B, looking at the ceiling, to location C, across the gallery from the welcome station and near the front windows.

Moving from the front entrance, we follow the windows left towards the east wall. Stepping right, a third of the way across the gallery, we arrive in front of Galilean Amulets iv, installed on the wall. Behind us in the centre of the gallery is a bench where we can sit to view this and the neighbouring work.

All of the textile work installed on the wall follows the methods of traditional Palestinian Tatreez; the embroidery is stitched onto black aida cloth using colourful threads. In Galilean Amulets iv, Rawan uses pink and purple threads to create a pattern featuring repeating diagonal rows of geometric zigzags and comb-like motifs. A densely stitched central line is flanked by jagged purple and pink shapes. Each vertical band contains multiple repetitions of this pattern, creating a continuous visual rhythm across panels.

The full work consists of seven panels installed level on the top and hanging down in strips. A central rectangular panel contains four full columns of the stitched pattern. It is flanked on either side by two narrower vertical panels, each showing one full column. Further outward, two square panels show partial columns of the same motif. The smallest panels sit at the far left and far right edges and contain a single abbreviated vertical repetition. The sequence of panels is symmetrical from the center outward: small, square, narrow, central, narrow, square, small.

Rawan, smiling sheepishly, pointed out a section in the lower left corner with slightly different coloured pink thread, and shared:

“In the Galilean region, it is very common to find Tatreez with intensional mistakes because it’s believed that perfection will lead you to get attention from the bad or evil eye, so embroiderers will intentionally add imperfections in each piece.” 

She continues.

“I really wanted to work with the colour purple because, back in the day, purple was made through shells and snails, and it was a really rigorous process to create. It represents wealth, because it’s such a rigorous process.”

In places, dried watermelon seeds have been stitched onto the embroidery. These flat, greyish-coloured seeds have also been loaned to the gallery and are available in a jar at the welcome station as a tactile object. They were gifted to the artist by a fellow Palestinian and close friend and are incorporated into this Tatreez and the 5 hanging strands from the ceiling.

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: D – “Galilean Amulets iii, 2025”

If you’re using the tactile map, we are moving from location C, near the widows to location D, continuing along the east wall.

Stepping right towards the second half of the gallery along the east wall, we arrive at Galilean Amulets iii. In this work, Rawan uses orange and cream coloured threads to create a grid of triangular and stepped geometric forms arranged in vertical columns. Each column repeats a motif of embroidered triangles, with tassel-like, stitched extensions descending from the top corners of each triangle.

The full work is composed of five separate pieces: three narrow single-column panels alternating with two wider double-column panels, creating a symmetrical sequence across the wall.

Hanging down along the angled peaks of the triangles are olive leaves stitched into the Tatreez. Each shiny leaf curls slightly and is pierced by a piece of thread to dangle from the work. Sample leaves have also been included in the tactile objects available in the welcome station.

Rawan shares:

“Olives hold a huge cultural significance, and they’re one of the most targeted trees by the occupier, because a lot of folks’ income comes from olive trees. I wanted to honour that somehow.”

The dried olive leaves are also included in the suspended threads above.

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: E – “Galilean Amulets i, 2024”

If you’re using the tactile map, we are moving from location D on the east wall and turning 90 right to location E in the centre of the back or south wall of the gallery.

Stepping right and past the southeast corner of the gallery, we turn 90 degrees and centre ourselves at the back wall in front of Galilean Amulets i. This work consists of 5 panels featuring a grid of squares and diamonds in alternating rows. Each diamond shape is paired with a neutral-toned cypress wood insert, and each square is embroidered with a horizontal central line of smaller diamonds, between rows of small, dense triangles.

Rawan shares: 

“The diamond shape is a classic protection shape. And so that’s why you all see a lot of diamonds and triangles, or two triangles [together] that make a diamond shape. It’s a typical embroidery shape. The wood part is my own touch.”

This embroidery pattern has been included as a square sample in the tactile objects at the welcome station.

The central or middle work is very wide, made up of 5 columns of embroidery. Thinner, vertical panels of aida cloth with a single column of matching stitched motifs are positioned to the left and right of the central piece. As we move away from the central panel, each of the outer columns decreases about an inch or a square pattern of length from the bottom.

A final cypress wood diamond dangles from the edge of each work. These cypress wood pieces are included as tactile objects to handle and explore in the welcome station. They are also included in the suspended threaded works above.

About the cypress wood, Rawan reflects:

“I started incorporating cypress wood into my practice when I learned that cypress trees are the trees whose roots are the most vertical, and so they’re less likely to disrupt graves. And so you’ll often find cypress trees around graveyards. There’s also a wide range of cypress tree symbols within Tatreez as well, so I started adding cypress wood as a way to pay homage to all our dead and all our martyrs.”

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: F – “Galilean Amulets ii, 2025”

If you’re using the tactile map, we are moving from location E on the back or south wall of the gallery to location F on the west wall or same wall as the welcome station near the entrance.

Continuing right along the south or back wall, we reach the exit from the gallery into the media lab. We are going to pivot 90 degrees and follow the west wall until we reach Galilean Amulets ii, installed left of the welcome station. 

This work is the last and largest in the Amulet series installed in the gallery. The central horizontal panel features a grid of squares, 7 squares wide by 4 squares long. Every second square features a uniquely coloured embroidery of a diamond with a single blue bead at it’s centre. In alternating squares, the centre diamond frames a vertical line of hand-made, different shaped beads. 

Samples of the blue beads in 3 different sizes are available in the welcome station’s tactile objects, and a set of beads are included in the suspended threads above.

About the blue beads, Rawan shares:

“Back in the 60s, when Palestinian orphans would arrive to UNRWA, [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency], they would wear blue beads, similar to this as a form of protection. I tried to get an assortment of different ones. The ceramic ones were gifted to me by Access Gallery. A local artist named Eris made them and then Access Gallery gifted them to me because this is where I started.

In this work, I was thinking a lot about that history of children wearing blue beats, and the current moment where a lot of kids are being left parentless. It felt appropriate at the time.”

The squares that hold the vertical line of beads have repeating linework in the corners. Linework refers to the use of specialized stitches that create outlines, contours and detailed illustrations in embroidery. The linear stitches often mimic hand-drawn or sketching styles to define shapes, but rarely fill them in. With the four corners as the common starting point, single lines of blue thread fan out and create a textured border that frames the line of beads. Rawan has said that while it is not traditional, they always try to add line work to their embroidery. The patterns from this work have been made into a paper tactile object available in the welcome station.  

Two thinner, vertical panels of aida cloth with matching stitching, featuring a single column of 7 squares sits to the left and right of the central piece. Moving out, another set of aida cloth is embroidered with 3 columns by 2 rows of detailed squares. Finally, a shorter pair of single column embroidered squares, 5 in total, are positioned on the outside right and left.

[Oud, plucked string]

Chapter 4: G – “Galilean Amulets Plaster and Clay Tiles i-iv, 2026”

If you’re using the tactile map, we are moving from location F on the west wall or same wall as the welcome station near the entrance, and moving to location G in the back room.

Following back along the west wall, left from the entrance, we pass through the exit from the gallery, past the stairs up to the offices on the left, and into the media lab. On the table here are Galilean Amulets Plaster Tiles i through iv, and Galilean Amulet Clay Tiles i through iv, both completed in 2026. 

These tiles are impressions of the Tatreez featured in the main gallery. The embroidery was pressed into clay forming the debossed clay tablets on message. Rawan then created mold boxes out of melamine wood and after prepping these, she poured in plaster to create the embossed tiles. Visually, the works are subtle; each tablet is 2cm in height with variable lengths and widths. The clay is a light brown colour and cracked through. All of the clay works rest on a melamine slab. The plaster is white. The edges and impressions are subtle and difficult to see as if they have eroded, with light cracks and imperfections. They have an ancient or excavated quality to them. All of these works can be explored tactilely.

Rawan reflects:

“I was trying to create touchable imprints of the embroideries and I was also thinking of the idea of relics.

I really like playing around with the idea of time, but through materials. In my head, the embroideries are the current moment, the charcoal rubbings are the future, and then these would be the past of some sort. 

This [work] feels undone for me. I feel like it’s something I want to continue exploring, creating imprints onto clay and maybe ceramics… This feels just like the start.”

[Oud, plucked string]

With that, we conclude the described tour of Here/After, Amulets in Ritual . Later, during the exhibition’s run, we will have a fold-out publication available for the show and an alternative text version available in plain text or audio, both on our website and through the Yoto players in gallery.

Thank you so much for joining us on this creative access audio tour! We’d love to hear your thoughts on this experience and how we can improve it. If you carried any tactile object(s) during the tour, please return it to the welcome station! We acknowledge that we cannot be everything to everyone, and respect that our creative access explorations may not serve your needs. You can reach us at access@grunt.ca or chat with any of the staff on site with any feedback you have the capacity to provide.

Thank you again.

Curatorial Essay

by Whess Harman

Coming soon.