< Counterforce >

CounterForce is a series of three canvases representing North, Central, and South Palestine, installed vertically to evoke the form of the Palestinian map. The surfaces are intentionally torn and filled with cement, symbolizing the occupation’s attempts to penetrate, expand, and claim Palestinian land. Against this expanding force, Palestinian Tatreez patterns spread across the surfaces as a form of cultural defense. Motifs such as the Pasha’s Tent, Cypress Tree, and Bethlehem Star are translated from embroidery into repeated painted marks, representing how cultural heritage becomes a means of protecting and asserting connection to the land. Threads cross over the cement-filled ruptures, physically reconnecting what has been divided. The opposing materials create a tension between territorial fragmentation and cultural persistence, suggesting that while land can be divided and occupied, identity and cultural memory continue to resist through the practices, patterns, and traditions carried across generations.