Yasser Barakat is a Palestinian collector and designer who owns The Yasser Barakat Gallery in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Barakat is a native Jerusalemites, graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He started collecting Palestinian dresses and artwork when he was 19 years old. His passion for Palestinian embroidery is one of the reasons why he collected and preserved this heritage from all regions of Palestine.

The gallery was established in 1972 and offers a wide range of old Palestinian artwork, David Roberts lithographs (original 1840s and 1850s pieces), steel engraving and maps from the 16th and 17th centuries. Additionally, there is a magnificent collection of Persian, Turkish, Afghani and Palestinian carpets.

In his search for Palestinian artwork, Barakat grew to understand that embroidery is being lost and neglected. He wanted to do something about it, and created a studio to collect Palestinian dresses and jewellery.

To this day, Yasser continues to search for and buy unique Palestinian artwork wherever he can find it in order to safeguard the history of Palestinian embroidery and artwork.

Barakat believes that each piece of Palestinian embroidery contains a story and heritage. Each dress holds a story behind it, and Yasser can spend hours explaining the meaning behind every piece of embroidery, describing the village in Palestine it came from and the meaning behind each piece. Within its stitches and colours lays stories of Palestine that need to be propagated.

He explains that these pieces were typically done on either black or white linen dresses, which had triangular sleeves and whose length reached the floor.

The embroidered area included a square chest piece, front and back lower panels and side panels running down from the waist. Each colour is chosen with care and with an attention to the meaning it conveys. For example, when embroidery uses green, it is meant to symbolise growth; yellow stands for harvest; brown for earth; blue against the evil eye; and black for widows.

Every woman had the chance to express her creativity with her choice of colours, patterns and fabrics, but generally each area in Palestine had its own distinct embroidery rules.

The dresses were accessorised with headpieces (veils) and each area and village wore different hats. Each hat contained different stitches and silver coins, depending on how wealthy the woman was. Some hats even contained gold coins to denote their wealth.

Women’s accessories also included bracelets, necklaces, nose rings and anklets. Jewellery often had names engraved on it and contained different artwork, depending on the area it came from.

Yasser not only collects Palestinian artwork but he also design and offer art pieces in a newer and preserved manner. All pieces are done with Manjal stitch around the borders, which holds the embroidery and highlights its beauty. The embroidery styles come from dresses and jewellery from all regions of Palestine.

He is doing a great job because old dresses that are ruined and neglected are fixed up, worked on and preserved on newer fabrics and in unique framings.

The gallery offers Palestinian dresses embroidered between the 1890s and the 1930s. All dresses are pure silk embroidered and naturally dyed. The dresses originate from all regions of Palestine, including a variety of Palestinian cities and villages. Dresses were produced for many different occasions such as weddings, everyday dress, and festive/special events.

Palestinian wedding headdresses also tell unique stories and depict different regions of Palestine. Historically, the headdress was a part of the woman’s dowry and the amount of silver or gold on the headdress added to the total amount of the dowry. Each headdress resembles the area it came from such as Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah. The headdresses were made in these big cities and then worn in the surrounding towns and villages.

We can find as well table runners, cushions, wedding pillows, wall hangings, bags and clutches, wallets and glasses cases.

Some items of his collection

Front Piece

 Dress

 Wedding Pillow

 Headdress

Source:

www.yasserbarakatgallery.com

Further readings:

– The Yasser Barakat Collection of Palestinian Embroidery Preserving Palestines Heritage and Art

http://archive.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=1029&ed=93

– This Week in Palestine, 27 Feb 2014, “The Yasser Barakat Collection of Palestinian Embroidery Preserving Palestine’s

http://www.fashionembroidery.co.uk/features.php#row1