Fabric of Society, oil on canvas, 30”w x 60”h. Fabric of Society, to me, means that we are all in this together and that our stories are all woven together, that we’re all interconnected and we are stronger because of it. Some background on what inspired me to make this painting based on Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib: Tlaib made history as the first Palestinian-American congresswoman and one of the first Muslim women in Congress, along with fellow new Rep. Ilhan Omar. She chose to wear her thobe, a traditional Palestinian dress, to her swearing in. Fellow Palestinian-American Susan Muaddi Darraj decided to launch a Twitter campaign #TweetYourThobe in order “to educate others about our culture while we celebrate [Tlaib’s] achievement,” she said. “I was thrilled to learn Rashida would wear the thobe,” Darraj told HuffPost in an email. She noted that Tlaib planned to wear a thobe from her mother ― just as Darraj’s dress was given to her by her own mother. “Every thobe has a story, and it’s a story that mothers pass down to their daughters,” she said. Palestinian women then flooded Twitter with their own photos wearing thobes. One tweet read, Every thobe is a dress embroidered with the stories, the loves, the tragedies of Palestinian women. The world will never be broken, because we will always stitch it back together & make it beautiful. Another read, As the son of a Palestinian mother, it’s a milestone for Palestinian-Americans to see their culture and heritage reflected in their elected officials. Young girls like my daughter and niece now have officials they can see & aspire to be like one day! Since what women wear is so often dissected and criticized, and we know this, I wanted to include in my show another painting that highlights a woman using the knowledge of the scrutiny she knew she’d receive to put out her own narrative, a joyous one of inclusion, representation, and celebration. Swipe for details by @thatchinesekid courtesy of Paradigm Gallery + Studio Saturday is the final day to see my show in person at @paradigmgs, please contact the gallery to reserve your time slot 🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/CFPP7y6DDbK/?igshid=j46lk59kzaki
