Voices filled Nouri’s dining room—laughter, memories, stories of migration and labor from the Arab community of Paterson. Their stories wove themselves into my art: tatreez patterns dancing from Syria to Palestine, stitched together with portraits of their descendants.
These threads contain the hum of bakeries at dawn, the buzz of barbershops alive with neighborhood chatter, the sizzle of kitchens in family-owned restaurants, and the steady hands of factory shifts and real estate transactions that build something lasting. Every job is a stitch in the tapestry of survival and pride. The piece breaks into postcards, each one flipping like a secret note passed between generations—messages to those who came before and those still to come. Even when separated, the pieces stay connected. Every fragment held together by threads of work, of dreams, of hope. A playful tribute, stitched with love and legacy.
