“This design is a traditional motif of scissors and roses,” Maki Yamamoto says, pointing to an obi that has caught my eye at her pop-up shop and exhibition in Tokyo’s Azabu Hills complex. “Roses once thrived in Gaza’s fertile soils.”
The kimono fabrics on display may have been Japanese in function, but their form was Palestinian. That is thanks to Yamamoto’s Palestinian Embroidery Obi Project, an organization that employs Palestinian women in Gaza and the West Bank’s refugee camps to adorn traditional Japanese garments with Palestinian tatreez embroidery.
In Palestinian poetry and art, roses are a symbol of resilience and the enduring spirit of the Palestinian people. Cypress trees and the eight-pointed Star of Bethlehem also feature prominently in the sashes on display at her pop-up, which ran from June 18 to 23 and featured dozens of hand-embroidered obi — examples of the splendor and beauty that defined Palestine in times of peace.
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