Jordan Nassar’s favored subject is landscape. He embroiders his compositions, which are framed by, and built up through, repeating patterns adapted from traditional Palestinian motifs. At first glance his scenes seem innocuous enough. They comprise rolling hills, rendered sometimes in vibrant shades of red, while other times in more muted grays and browns. These hills are framed by a dramatically hued sky: oftentimes blue, as we might expect, while in other works it is pink or orange. In these the effect is of distant peaks dappled by the rays of a setting late summer sun. This idyll, which initially seems like an abstract anywhere, turns out to be imaginary, yet specific. The artist is of Palestinian descent, but was born and raised in New York City. Extending from this, his work evokes a very particular kind of imagined space: the sort of utopian vision of Palestine held by the displaced constituents that comprise the region’s diaspora.

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Image: Hand-Embroidery in Cotton on Cotton by Jordan Nassar