Blessings from Palestine is a collection of ceramic objects that retrieve and re-member Palestinian jewellery and amulets: material archives that are containers and expressions of cultural knowledge, resilience, and identity.

In Palestine, jewellery has long served purposes beyond adornment; it carries the weight of heritage, embodying and conveying the beliefs, values, and collective memory of its people. These objects are material expressions of belonging, quiet companions that once moved with women through the rhythms of life,  while milling wheat, harvesting citrus, crushing olives, celebrating weddings, or simply sharing coffee at home.

Through contemporary ceramic practices, this work reimagines historical jewellery and amulets, breathing new life into them by translating their forms into tangible objects. In doing so, these objects are brought into the present, where they sit held and transformed, becoming accessible for engagement. Whether through touch, recreation, or simple presence, they transmit knowledge, participating in the continuity of a culture navigating conditions of forced fragmentation.

Blessings from Palestine approaches cultural objects as living resources rather than static relics of the past. Through this lens, the project becomes part of an ongoing heritage in the making, one that lives, breathes, and continues to be carried forward through acts of creation. It reveals how craft and material culture nourish identity and foster resilience against historical and ongoing erasure. These ceramic works become bridges: between the known and unknown, past and present, material and immaterial. In their clay forms, they extend from the past, inviting us to hold what was and shape what will be.

When I work with clay, there’s an inherent thought that stays with me: ceramics hold a permanence that other materials don’t. Unlike metal, which can be melted down and repurposed, or wood, which can decay, ceramics persist. Once fired, they are fixed in their form, unyielding to time and transformation. This resilience reflects a hope I have for my culture.

I have worked with 3 main jewellery pieces, “habbiyat” a bracelet, “khamsiyat” a head ornament, and “sinsal samakeh” a fish necklace.