Jordan Nassar’s hand embroidered textile pieces address an intersecting field of language, ethnicity and the embedded notions of heritage and homeland. Treating craft within its capacity as communicative form, Nassar examines conflicting issues of identity and cultural participation using geometric patterning adapted from Islamic symbols present in traditional Palestinian hand embroidery. Nassar generates these symbols via computer and then meticulously hand stitches them onto carefully mapped-out patterns. In the enmeshing and encoding of these symbols within his work, Nassar roots his practice in a linguistic and geopolitical field of play characterized by both conflict and unspoken harmony. Nassar’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions globally at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Asia Society, New York; Princeton University Art Museum; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Katonah Museum of Art; KMAC Museum, Louisville; Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Tel Aviv; and The Third Line, Dubai. His work has been acquired by museum collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art, Rollins Museum of Art, Florida; LACMA, Los Angeles; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, among others. His work was recently on view at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, in his solo exhibition Fantasy and Truth.
[excerpted from Anat Ebgi Gallery website: www.anatebgi.com]