S3E9 of Tatreez Talk: Composing Tatreez with Ana
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I first met Ana when she was just beginning her journey with tatreez. I guided her through making her own thobe, connected with her as a fellow community member, and today—I’m so proud to call her a friend.
Her energy is infectious, and her presence alone can lift you out of a dark place—especially in times like these.
So of course, I had to invite her onto the podcast.
What I didn’t expect was just how multi-talented she is. By weaving her passion for tatreez into her musical world, she’s created something truly powerful.
This is hands down one of my favorite interviews to date—and I can’t wait for you to hear it.
Episode Shownotes
ANA IS A PALESTINIAN COLOMBIAN MUSICIAN, STUDENT, TATREEZ ARTIST AND TEACHER (@verde_a_zaytouna). In this episode, she shares how tatreez became a profound act of self-discovery, storytelling, and connection—to Palestine, Palestinians, and even her own family. More than just embroidery—it became a form of reclaiming history, understanding geography, and strengthening ties to the broader Palestinian community.
Ana also reveals how her background in music composition intertwines with her tatreez practice, showing how gesture and ancestral movements influence both art forms. Through her stitches, she finds echoes of generations before her, crafting not just patterns but stories of resilience. From transforming her activism to strengthening her father’s bond with Palestine, Ana reflects on her journey, the story of her thobe, and what’s next for her creative path.
P.s. You MUST listen to her music composition that weaves in tatreez. There’s a sneak peek in the last minute of the episode, but the full video is here on YouTube.
You’ll hear about:
>> 0:49: Ana’s connection to Palestine and feeling Palestinian
>> 9:39: The spark that lit up Ana’s Palestinian identity
>> 11:18: The start of Ana’s tatreez journey
>> 17:33: Tatreez meets music composition
>> 24:01: Gesture in Ana’s tatreez composition
>> 33:15: Relationships and activism after starting tatreez
>> 38:46: What’s next for Ana
>> 43:13: The story of Ana’s thobe
>> 47:20: The Palestinian Colombian community
>> 50:03: Ana’s major life lesson from tatreez
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Transcript
Lina: Hi stitchers! Welcome to Tatreez talk, where we share conversations about Palestine embroidery. I'm Lina here with my co-host Amani, chatting with talented embroiders and artists sharing their stories, inspirations, and the cultural significance behind their work.
Amanne: On today's episode. We are chatting with Anna, a musician, student, Tetris, artist and teacher. Welcome to Tetris. Talk.
Ana: Thank you so much for having me.
Lina: And Anna and I are.
Amanne: Chat.
Lina: Yes, Anna and I are actually friends, and we'll talk about how we got introduced to each other. It was through. So it's very fitting for this episode. But, Anna, we always like to kick off our episodes with asking you, our guest, about you and your family's connection to Palestine.
Ana: Yeah, of course. So I am half Colombian, half Palestinian. My mom is Colombian. My entire family is from the Bethlehem area. So the city and surrounding villages. My family left Palestine in 3 stages. The 1st people who left were around 1929, 19 thirties.
Ana: and my great grandmother and my grandfather's family lived in 1948, with the Nakba
Ana: and my grandma, and they came to Bolivia actually not Colombia.
Ana: and my grandmother. My great grandmother couldn't take it. She wanted to be in Palestine, so they actually went back.
Ana: And then they left for the last time in 1967, and that time they knew they probably weren't coming back. So they came to Bolivia because they already there was already family there, and there was already a Palestinian community. There
Ana: and then they stayed, and then they came to Colombia after my grandfather found a job here, and then my my dad was born here. So actually, I'm second generation.
Ana: But I've always felt the need to connect to Palestine.
Ana: I've always felt like it was something that was really missing in my life, and Iid not grow up with my grandparents, so I never had that immediate connection with Palestine, but I always felt it.
Ana: but I never felt it so strongly until beginning of 2023, actually so before the genocide, and Iid not know at the moment why I felt such a strong need to connect to Palestine. Of course I know now why I was
Ana: feeling that, but it was just really strong needs. So I started looking into any way I could to connect to Palestine, and that's around the time where I also found that there is.
Amanne: That's interesting. So my my mom's side of the family has kind of a similar story that my grandmother has kind of a similar story in the sense that, like they left they left Philistine, and they came to Brazil, and my grandmother was like, I need to go back to Philistine. My mom spent the 1st 4 years of her life
Amanne: in Palestine, like she was born in Brazil, but raised there, and they left in 67, and they came back to Brazil. And you know, then just stayed. So it's interesting. The how many Palestinians wound up in South America. Like it's it's really interesting, I think, especially like there are so many we've talked last year we talked to Ahmad from Chile, and
Amanne: and you know there is such a a vibrant and large community in South America, especially from people from Bethlehem. Soo you like do you have a Palestinian Colombian community that you either grew up with, or are now kind of like, have reconnected with as an adult.
Ana: There is a large Palestinian Colombian community, but it's not like that. United honestly.
Amanne: Hmm.
Ana: I mean, I didn't really know any of them like my only connection to Palestine was like myad and my great
Ana: but Iid started getting a little more connected to them in the the past few months.
Ana: So I've come to know some of them, and it has been really sweet.
Ana: But yeah, Iid not grow up with them like my family, was the only
Ana: my connection to Palestine I had, but many of my family are not connected to Palestine so much either. So it was mostly my dad. And yeah, my great uncle.
Lina: So is your is your dad's side like? Is it just your dad and your great uncle who's in Colombia? Is everyone else kind of Bolivia or Palestine still, or or everyone is close by.
Ana: So.
Ana: Dueri is one of these families in which, like everyone who has the same last name, is the same like he's from the same family. So.
Ana: Ion't know how many like cousins I have honestly.
Amanne: Which is, I guess it's a really Palestinian thing. Yes.
Ana: Yeah.
Ana: like, you meet someone who's Palestinian. And you start talking. And it's like, Oh, we have the same last name. We're cousins who? Yeah, but honestly, no like, I just know, like my immediate family. Some of them are here. Some of them are in Bolivia, but Ion't really know the ones who live in Bolivia. So no, I just know, like my closest family here.
Amanne: I'm also curious that you said like, you know, you felt this urge at the beginning of 2023 to really reconnect with your palace and identity. So growing up.
Amanne: What like, I guess. How you see your Palestinian identity growing up before you reconnected.
Ana: Yeah, I really felt like it was something I was missing.
Ana: I remember in school I had a friend, and she was also Palestinian. But my family are Palestinian Christians, and she was Palestinian Muslim. So even in our classroom and everything they always knew, and they always recognized her as Palestinian. But no one, no one talked to me as like a Palestinian. No one recognized me as Palestinian, because we're Christian.
Ana: so I always felt like I wanted people to know I was Palestinian, but I didn't really know how to approach that conversation, because I didn't really know a lot about Palestine, or what the identity meant, and also in our classroom. We also had another classmate.
Ana: and she was Jewish, but not only Jewish she was, she was Zionist.
Ana: So that was also.
Ana: The whole thing. I'm not gonna get into it.
Ana: But I really felt that I wanted people to know that I was Palestinian. I just didn't know how to approach it.
Ana: And yeah, it was not until beginning of 2023 that I really started researching and trying to connect even more to that heritage.
Lina: You know, it's also. Now I have an interesting like relation to this or something that's making me remember something from my childhood, because I felt very similarly, I didn't really get called to learn more about my Palestinian side.
Lina: very like intentionally until 2011, when I went to Palestine, which is a very different kind of exposure to the Palestinian experience, but I remember like knowing that I'm Palestinian, but not really sure what that meant for me, and I always remember someone reminded me like recently that I in middle school I was in the Us. And I was in middle school, and I had
Lina: a Jewish friend who now I know, is Zionist. But I didn't have the term Zionist at the time. I didn't understand what that meant. I didn't really know the difference between Israel and Jewish even at that time. And so we did this whole project together, and I look back, and I'm like so not embarrassed, but like so upset that I didn't have more knowledge for myself. But we did this whole project about like peace.
Lina: you know, in the Middle East, and like, how can a Jewish person and a Arab person? And Amani is making faces at me because it's actually it's embarrassing. It's crazy.
Amanne: You're okay. You're here.
Lina: And it's it's crazy to think about. But I was. So, you know, when you're when you're 1213 years old, and you're.
Amanne: Maybe.
Lina: And you're in this classroom and no one else around. You can teach you about your Palestinian identity, and everyone else is being fed. The Zionist narrative like, it's actually it's so crazy. And so you're reminding me of that experience, because now Ion't think I would ever talk to this person again. I know who they I know their name, and I haven't really kept in touch with them or anything. But it's
Lina: it's crazy because a lot of us who maybe don't have a strong Palestinian community, or have a very strong Palestinian voice in our home to help us understand this and help us connect individually to Palestine as our own individuals. It's hard.
Lina: anyways, you're reminding me of this experience, and of like my evolution as someone who now identifies very strongly as Palestinian. But I'm curious about like what was it in early 2023 that triggered this like was there like I get it? I completely understand what you went through, but it's more about like how? What was it that triggered this for? You?
Amanne: Buzz.
Lina: The spark. Yeah, like I know, toll trees was your gateway not spoiler alert. But
Lina: what was what caused you to even explore tatreez? To begin with, do you remember.
Lina: yeah, before that, Ion't wanna know one of you or anything but.
Ana: That friend was like in my classroom with me, and
Ana: like she went to the birthright trip, and everything like it was that kind of.
Ana: and sometimes we were in like history, class, or something, and she would have to do projects. We would have too projects, and she would make projects about like how important Israel is as a homeland of the Jewish people and stuff, and she would ask me to correct her grammar
Ana: on the project, and I.
Lina: It'll be like.
Ana: And I saw it, and I felt like this was wrong, but I didn't know how to approach that conversation either, so I was like.
Lina: Yeah.
Ana: Could you ask someone else like just.
Lina: Yeah.
Ana: Just
Ana: yeah. I can't say, really what was at the beginning of 2023. There was like the spark.
Ana: I guess it was just maybe like a snowball thing I had been connecting with Palestine mainly through, like my my main connection to Palestine in my life is like food
Ana: like we did have Palestinian traditions, as always in Easter, we would eat ma'amoul.
Amanne: I completely love it.
Ana: Be with our Palestinian side of the family. But in 2023 it was just like.
Ana: I really have like, I have this need that I want to connect with Palestine. I really have to do something about it. And I have to connect actively
Ana: with my Palestinian identity.
Ana: And yeah, then I found that 3 so.
Amanne: That's the perfect segue, like, or more specific.
Ana: Yeah. Like.
Amanne: You found Lita.
Amanne: There you go. Lena was your gateway.rug? I am.
Lina: So proud to facilitate that.
Amanne: So I mean, that leads us perfectly to kind of like the start of your journey like, How did you like? How did the threes come into your life. How did you begin learning about the three's? Let's dive into that.
Ana: Yeah. So the 1st time I saw Tatreez was on Instagram through Suzy Tamimi.
Ana: because one of the 1st things Iid to connect with my Palestinian heritage. I started like looking for Palestinian people online because I didn't have many around me.
Ana: So I saw Suzy Tamimi. And I was like, this is really interesting.
Ana: but I had never like wanted to get into embroidery. I had never held a needle in my life.
Ana: and I saw her, and it kind of stuck in the back of my brain like that is something cool, I guess.
Ana: but I didn't really consider it like too much.
Ana: The 1st time I saw an actual sob, and at the moment I didn't know what it was. And this is crazy to me. I feel like at the moment. It was also
Ana: horrible. I guess the 1st time I actually saw a Thug like in person was in the British Museum.
Ana: which is insane. But I think that's also like colonization and.
Lina: Totally a hundred percent. Yeah.
Ana: Thanks.
Ana: Yeah. But
Ana: I saw the thobe. And I was also like, this is a really beautiful dress. I love that. It's Palestinian. I have to know more about it.
Ana: and both of those things kind of stuck in the back of my brain for a while, and then Ion't remember what happened between that time and the time I saw that Lena was going to do her Tatreez 101 class.
Ana: But then I saw that Lena was going to that class, and something in me was like, I have to do this now. I didn't even know what it was because I had never been interested, like remotely interested in anything like it.
Ana: But I saw it, and I was like, I have to do this now.
Ana: So I signed up for the class, and well, you know obsession ever since so.
Amanne: The gateway.
Amanne: Amazing. Amazing. So, okay, you started doing the one on one class. And then clearly, like the floodgates opened. But you know, when you started kind of stitching, you know, in the very beginning of your journey, like
Amanne: I'm curious to understand, like what that was like, what that felt like like as you're reconnecting with your Palestinian identity. You're now like learning a traditional Palestinian art that you weren't familiar with like not that long before. So like, How did that start shifting your relationship to your Palestinian identity?
Ana: It was.
Ana: I think the 1st thing was that it opened so many things about Palestinian culture to me that I had no idea about.
Ana: So I had something. I knew some things about Palestinian culture, but not many things.
Ana: and starting to get into Tatreez and learning about the sobs, learning about the embroidery, and that leads to so many more subjects like that leads to learning about community, about the villages and village identity, about geography, the geography of Palestine about traditions and
Ana: generations of passing one thing from one generation to another. It was just learning so many things about Palestinian culture. I didn't know before.
Ana: and
Ana: that that just felt like reclaiming something I needed my entire life. I just didn't know I needed it. Basically.
Amanne: I am.
Ana: Yeah, obsession.
Amanne: I love the way you put that, too, like you know it, I think you know for me. I grew up in a very, very Palestinian household. But
Amanne: it's also, even with that I still feel exactly what you were talking about, like the Tatreez does open up like even deeper connection to Philistine. Like as you're talking about, you learn about geography, you learn about these villages. You learn about these customs. Which is really really cool. So obviously, you started your studies one on one. As we said it was your gateway. So you've kept going. I I know that you are working on a fold. Is that correct?
Ana: Yes. Then Lena also came out with the soap course, and I was like.
Lina: You're welcome, my.
Amanne: The gateway.
Lina: Yes.
Amanne: After that it was like everything Lina does. I'm gonna do it like I'm sorry. But then.
Ana: Like when I started when I decided to the soap course. I had only been doing Tatreez for one month.
Ana: and I was like, Ion't care. I'm gonna do a dress like, of course.
Lina: I am. I am so glad you said that because I was going to call it out. People don't understand. Anna has been practicing tatreez for about a year, as of the recording of this session, and she has already not only like learned, she's not only started her own thobe and gotten into sewing. But her back, Amani, you would be so freaking proud of her back.
Amanne: Gonna send me pictures.
Ana: I can show you. Yeah.
Lina: Remarkable. It's absolutely remarkable. So she's showing you can't even crash it.
Amanne: Pictures.
Lina: You literally cannot tell what is the front and what is the back? So it's just absolutely amazing. And like, when people say it's in your blood like Anna, is the perfect example of these voice within her. It was passed down from all of the Tetas in her lifeline and I'm so it's just such an honor for me to kind of see it come to life and see what she creates because she's so creative.
Lina: okay, I also like, I wanna be mindful of time because we can talk to Anna about all of our telephony projects. But.
Amanne: I know.
Lina: I also really want to touch on her different passions coming together. So for those who don't know, Anna is actually also a musician, and she's getting here degree in music. Anna, please.
Amanne: All the talent.
Lina: Yes, Anna, please share more about that. Because you recently published on Youtube a beautiful track. Anyways, I'm not going to say anything you you share with the world this beautiful thing that you're working on.
Ana: All right. Yeah.
Ana: So yes, I'm studying music composition in Colombia.
Ana: and the music I make is not like.
Ana: how should I say commercial music. It's not like, Ion't create songs or albums.
Ana: I work in something that is called. It's a genre that is called contemporary music.
Ana: and I was talking to my teacher about, like how to define contemporary music because it
Ana: encompasses such a wide variety of things.
Ana: and if, like, if you Google it, it probably would say that contemporary music is just what modern
Ana: musician so, but it's also a sub-genre of music.
Ana: and the way we try to define it, at least for the purposes of getting into it. I guess this is by no means an exhaustive
Ana: definition.
Ana: I was thinking we were thinking about how to define contemporary music, and we thought
Ana: that our question in contemporary music is the material in itself.
Ana: So if we're talking about painting, for example, it's like other musicians, other songs
Ana: they like sound for them is the way to achieve a piece of art. So if it were a painting, music for them would be, Ion't know the acrylics, or the oil or the pencils
Ana: in contemporary music. It's as if we not only focus on what the painting at the end will be like. But we consider the nature itself of the elements we're going to use. So for us, the pencil, the acrylic, the oil that in itself is art.
Ana: and we try to make a piece by considering the
Ana: nature of music, the nature of sounds, the nature of silences.
Ana: So business are weird, I guess.
Ana: but it's about exploration of concepts through
Ana: thinking of sounds and silences as they are.
Ana: So I wanted. I've done a couple of pieces already, and this semester I was like, I want to do something with Tatreez. I want to join tatreez and music.
Ana: So I started thinking about how to unite these 2 things that are like. At 1st glance they're very different.
Ana: But I started considering how there are many terms that are
Ana: together like that both of those arts use. So, for example, in music, we also talk about color. We also talk about texture. We also talk about forms or shapes.
Ana: So I started thinking about like
Ana: I could try to do something with both of these.
Ana: So the 1st thing Iid was
Ana: I started exploring what the sounds were. When you do, Tatreez, like what the sounds are just doing, Tatreez, which is not like a very noisy thing. So at 1st it was kind of difficult to find something too with it.
Ana: So I mean, like 2 groups of instruments for the piece.
Ana: And I decided too like
Ana: one group of instruments that were like the normal percussion instruments, so like vibraphone, marimba, symphonic drum.
Ana: and the other one made of implements for tatreez and for like confection. So needles.
Ana: fabric thread, embroidery itself and a sewing machine.
Ana: and I tried to find like analog sounds between both of those groups of instruments. And then it was just
Ana: trying to find ways to create the entire piece out of those materials and those elements together.
Lina: I love it, I love it, and I wish you know, actually, Amanne, I had. I had thought about this, and I forgot to tell you, I thought it would be kind of cool to feature a like a portion of it as part of the episode.
Lina: Yes, so we'll just guys.
Amanne: We'll see if anything, there will be a link to the Youtube video. But I think.
Lina: The music kind of speaks for itself, and it's it's for those who like when we, when we when you listen to it, it'll it'll remind you of kind of your experience with, and especially if you're making a thobe. If you're sewing, you're like, oh, it's it's kind of it's really interesting to experience this art form from a very different
Lina: what is the word like immediately?
Lina: Yeah. But like, you know how, from a different.
Amanne: different sense
Amanne: from a different sense. Exactly like, it's a different yeah, it's so. It's so fascinating to me.
Amanne: I love it.
Amanne: It also like kind of like. And as you're like talking about it, I'm like, this is like Tatreez ASMR and as you're talking, I'm like, okay. I need her to drop an album that we can all like a very calm, soothing, relaxing album that we can all listen to as we stitch. So that's on the list.
Ana: Yeah, totally. We'll see. We'll see. I mean, I Ion't make any promises. But yeah, sure.
Amanne: I'm gonna support it and push it.
Lina: I love it. I love it. Well, okay. And, Anna, so when you were creating this piece, you've made a couple of them like with incorporated into it. Were there other things that you were thinking about when you were putting it together so like you, you talked us. You walked us through kind of the process of identifying the sounds, and like an analog version of each one of those. But are there other things? When you're then once you have kind of the pieces. And you're trying to make
Lina: like, put together a puzzle. Basically like, are there certain emotions that you're trying people to like? If you're trying for for people to experience, are there? Ion't know. Like, are you? What are you imagining that people are taking away when they listen to the piece.
Ana: Ion't know what they're taking away.
Ana: I guess that's part of it, like I want people to make their own conclusions and think about it how they will.
Ana: But there was this really central concept. And to most of my compositions there is this really central concept that I love, that is a concept that you usually hear a lot when you get into this world of contemporary music, and that is gesture
Ana: which for me is just. I could go down a rabbit hole here. But there are 2 main things you can say when you think of gesture
Ana: or two definitions. I let's say the 1st one is just like the main musical idea you're gonna use to create the entire layout of the piece.
Ana: but the second one, and that's the main one I try to use is this thought of bodily gestures as something that is part of art, but not just part of art, but they are. It is art in itself.
Ana: So music, contemporary musicians sometimes see these
Ana: bodily things that musicians have too when creating art. So, for example, picking up an instrument preparing, preparing the instrument to play.
Ana: and they say, like that is art in itself that is hard in itself.
Ana: So thinking of gesture, I think, is really beautiful, and it applies in all arts, including, of course, tariz.
Ana: It is considering the movements our bodies make in the creation of art as part of the art itself.
Ana: which in embroidery relates to connecting to each other. Of course, in the making of our creations, because we make the same movements when we are embroidery as each other.
Ana: So thinking of it, it reminded me also what Wafa said, actually, in one episode with you guys about ancestral muscle memory, and how we carry that ancestral muscle memory, because these movements that we do are also what our ancestors use, those same movements our ancestors used to make when they embroidered.
Ana: So I was thinking of both of those when I was composing, and in the piece I wanted to represent it. Like both the conception of creation in the body itself as art.
Ana: but it had also this additional meaning of ancestral connections.
Ana: and I really wanted to emphasize that aspect which, of course, is also found in contemporary music like I said.
Ana: So we decided to create a video, not only to include the embroidery, but also to include this bodily gesture.
Ana: and
Ana: I had to devote a large portion of the performance to these particular gestures of embroidering like creating art through the body
Ana: as an important aspect, and that is part of why I didn't say like add extra sounds to that section of embroidering like I wasn't making extra sounds
Ana: other than like the vibraphone and the drum. But while I was embroidering
Ana: I was not making like extra sounds, because I also wanted it to be like
Ana: I was wanted to incorporate it in a way that was like natural like when you embroider. There isn't a lot of sound. Then I didn't want it
Ana: to be like an an additional thing that wasn't there when you embroider normally.
Ana: But I was also thinking of this concept of gesture as a visual thing. So not only as the musical gesture, but musical gesture, but in the body.
Ana: and both to create cohesion, to properly develop all musical ideas in the piece, but also to emphasize this aspect. I had to include it more than once.
Ana: So the 1st time Io it in the piece, it is actually related to color, because we talk about color of the sound, but also color of the thread. So what Iid in that 1st part was that the vibraphone was creating like sounds, but with a bow which is a contemporary technique of playing it
Ana: and the color of. And while the percussionist is doing that, I am embroidering, and I lift the thread in the video, because it's both the color of the thread and the color of the sound.
Ana: But the end of the piece was the main part in which I wanted to emphasize this idea of a visual bodily gesture as something musical, even if it makes no sound.
Ana: And also I wanted to connect it to his ancestral connection. So in the end
Ana: I wanted to add this at this end of the piece as just me embroidering
Ana: until basically I want to stop.
Ana: and Iid add in the end the symphonic drum to tie off other musical ideas I had presented earlier on. But the music, the symphonic drum there, like every time I leave the thread, it
Ana: makes a sound, and it's like this low resonance sound.
Ana: And the idea behind that was also to emphasize much more this aspect of ancestral connections.
Lina: Wow, I'm like, literally imagining an ancestor from like 200 years ago.
Lina: Yeah, them doing the same movement like, that's a really powerful.
Lina: Visual for me or image in my mind. I'm curious how it how your work was received in the within, like the academic space like, how How didid you talk about this, or was this a live performance? I actually don't know.
Ana: Well, I got a good grade, so.
Lina: There we go!
Amanne: There we go!
Ana: I guess they liked it.
Ana: So this I re I recorded it because I had to for presenting it to the judges, because
Ana: that's how like grades work?
Ana: so I actually recorded it only with, like the musician I got, which is a classmate of mine, actually.
Ana: and another friend of mine who is studying also. Both of them are studying music with me.
Ana: but they're in like different emphasis, we call it. They're like in different lines. So one of them is a percussionist. So that is why I asked him to help me. And the other one is music. He's studying musical engineering like sound engineering.
Ana: So it was just the 3 of us when we recorded it.
Ana: But we and Iid have to write like a text of
Ana: like for the judges. You have to write this like essay, basically of what he wanted too and how the piece was developed, and all the musical ideas.
Ana: So we haven't yet played it live, but we might actually do it next semester, because sometimes
Ana: sometimes, when there is like a good semester
Ana: where there are few students, and the pieces they make are really good. Sometimes they make like a concert of the students and the pieces they created last semester. And we might be doing that next semester. So I'll let you know. And of course I would have to. I'm like
Ana: the next time someone asks me what I like, what instrument I play. I'm gonna be like, I play the sewing machine. Thank you very much.
Ana: I play.
Amanne: You play the needle and thread. Amazing, but.
Ana: What instrument do you play? I embroider? Thank you.
Amanne: Okay. So you know, as you were talking about like the gestures and stuff like
Amanne: with the fact that you had to be so focused on both the sound and the physical gestures, especially like as you were recording this like
Amanne: has that
Amanne: Ion't know. Has it shifted the way you stitch at all like, how has that affected like? How you stitch on day-to-day basis.
Ana: I guess it didn't change much in the way, like in the way Io it. I guess.
Ana: But it did provide, like a great opportunity to really reflect on this aspect of ancestral connections, and
Ana: how this ball, like not only do you connect with your ancestor because of
Ana: like the act of doing Tatreez itself, and, like the motifs, are the same.
Ana: like. The meaning is the same sort of creating the same dresses, but also because the bodily gestures you make, the thing you have too with your body while you embroider is the same as your ancestors did before you.
Ana: So it really it was a really good way of connecting to this aspect of
Ana: bodily connection to your ancestors.
Lina: I love that, and has this offered more opportunities to connect with your father?
Lina: On the Palestinian side like, did you have you? I mean, I know your parents now know your obsession, but, like, how has like going through this process of really like you didn't just stitch. I mean, you've been you've been thinking about in such a deep way, and by doing it in your own way, because you are the one also interested in music. So I'm curious like, how has it shifted? Maybe your relationship with your father, with your relationship with yourself in general as well.
Lina: I'm curious to hear about that, too.
Ana: Yeah, of course.
Ana: So my dad actually says that I connected him more to Palestine than he did to me, which I guess in a way, is right like he also felt that connection to Palestine before, but he wasn't like that connected either. I guess he was also missing that the strength of that link to Palestine and to our culture, and when I started getting into all of these I started teaching him about it.
Ana: He's convinced he's not going to embroider ever, because
Ana: he's convinced he has like no manual abilities whatsoever.
Ana: So getting into embroidery is not a thing that's probably going to happen. But I have talked to him about dresses. I have shown him the things Io with that Therese, and it has really gotten him into connecting to Palestine also, so he always says to me, like you are my connection to Palestine, like you have helped me to rekindle that connection to our land and to our people, and
Ana: like, I'm learning Arabic, and he knows Arabic because his grand, like his parents, talked to him in Arabic, but he was forgetting a lot of it, because he never has chance to practice. But now he's telling me like you're also helping me like practice my Arabic, and remember my Arabic.
Ana: So with my dad. It has been like a really bonding thing for both of us, and it's really sweet, because, like with the genocide and everything.
Ana: having someone like Palestinian around you. I feel like it's very. It's very important.
Ana: So just sometimes, when there are really difficult days with the news and everything, we just go to each other, and we're together, and it just makes it
Ana: more bearable, I guess, just to be in Palestinian community, even if it's just with my dad
Ana: and to me
Ana: this is not just at risk in general, but connecting to Palestine has been a really healing thing for me, too.
Ana: like
Ana: there were many things that happened also before I started getting more connected to my Palestinian identity, but connecting to those ancestral traditions, and that ancestral knowledge it has been very healing in so many ways.
Amanne: Yeah, I definitely hear that, you know.
Amanne: with your reconnection to your Palestinian identity. And you know you mentioned a little earlier, like you've now started connecting with the local Palestinian community. In Colombia. How has this reconnection through the threes helped you, I guess, help shape your activism and your work to raise awareness around Palestinian rights and heritage.
Ana: It has been base, like my journey with activism has been basically that it is.
Ana: Let's like I was really
Ana: shy like, I'm still really shy, but before it was like social anxiety and everything it was like, I am bothered when people look at me.
Ana: But after connecting to my Palestinian identity. It was like.
Ana: I'm still scared, but it's like, 1st of all, I'm Palestinian, so I mean
Ana: I cano it. I cano it. We cano it. We're Palestinian. It's fine.
Ana: but it has also been like, I'm gonna do anything I can for my people. And if Palestine asks me to do something. I'm gonna do it.
Ana: So the first, step
Ana: like actual activism I did on my own was starting too Tatreez classes, actually, because Tatreez classes was also a way of not only teaching people about
Ana: Palestine and what is going on, but also
Ana: like you have to see more of us than just the genocide and the colonization. Like we are
Ana: a nation, we're a people. We have an identity.
Ana: So there's much more to us than what is going on right now.
Ana: So it has been a way to connect to Palestine a lot, and also to connect to many more people that have helped
Ana: me in that creation of community. And in that activism. So I have done Tatreez classes in like 3 universities already.
Ana: I'm gonna continue doing classes.
Ana: I have spoken at protests. I have connected to more of my people here, who are also Palestinian. It has been
Ana: so many things honestly.
Lina: That is so beautiful.
Lina: Yeah, so beautiful. I love it. And I love like I love just being a witness to, to like your Tatreez journey in general. So what is next for your Tatreez journey? And it can also be music related if you're doing something further with your music, and but like, what are you working on next? What's coming up in the spring for you in the summer, and maybe also tell us a little bit about your thobe.
Ana: I have so many things coming up.
Ana: So 1st of all, I want to keep doing classes.
Ana: And I and I'm talking about this with many people, so I have a friend.
Ana: She's half Colombian, half Mexican, and we met through Palestine, which is really weird because she's not Palestinian. But I was next to her in class.
Ana: and I didn't know her at the time, and I looked at her violin, and in her case she had stickers that were like free Palestine. And it's it's like it's a genocide, not a war and stuff like that. And I was like, Hello
Ana: at you.
Ana: Who are you?
Ana: So we started connecting through that. And she's such an activist. She's so sweet. I love her.
Ana: And she was the one who started helping me do the Tatreez classes. So Iid the 1st class in my university.
Amanne: With them.
Ana: The second one in
Ana: the National University in Colombia, the 3rd one in another university, and it has just been
Ana: at this point, like, if people want me to do a Tatreez class, they usually ask her first.st They're like, Hey, tell her like.
Ana: can can we invite her to this Tatreez class.
Ana: and I actually did like last Friday. I did Tatreez class with the Argentinian Arab Culture Club.
Ana: and it was like it was virtual. But it was like a hundred people.
Ana: It was like a hundred people all over.
Amanne: That's amazing.
Ana: So there were people from like the guy who was helping me organize. It was like, there are people from Argentina, from Chile, from Paraguay from
Ana: Spain. Even there was. There were some people in Europe, it was so like so many people.
Ana: And
Ana: so I want to do classes more often. I want it to become like a thing. And I also started considering doing courses because I've learned so much about that threes that it doesn't cover just one class.
Ana: and I started talking to my dad like, I want too more things to teach people about Palestine, because I feel like
Ana: like my country is. I mean, it's weird, like the government has been really good with Palestine, like they ended relationship with Israel. We have a Palestinian Embassy
Ana: like it's governmentally wise. It's good.
Ana: but people in general like there's still a lot of Zionism, of course, but people in general don't know a lot about Palestine
Ana: like I go to university wearing
Ana: a sweatshirt that, says Bethlehem, Palestine and my Kuffiyeh, and like the flag. And people are like you're Palestinian. I had no idea.
Ana: So I want to teach people more about Palestine, because I think that's the main thing that is missing for people to get more activated
Ana: for people to act more because they I feel like they want too something, but they don't know what too. They don't know a lot about the subject.
Ana: So I started talking to my dad, and he was like, if we do more classes, we can
Ana: start talking about more subjects like the history of Palestine, the humanitarian crisis. We can add so many more things, and
Ana: like, look at it all through the lens of Tariz, and making it like
Ana: a reunion, not just in activism, but through art.
Amanne: To create community.
Ana: So we're gonna do that. Probably
Ana: we started talking with my friend about making like a student collective or like a community specifically also related to that aspect of Tatreez. But for activism
Ana: I'm learning Arabic, in the Palestinian Embassy. I.
Amanne: Yes.
Ana: I'm making myself, which, yeah, we can talk about it. It's good.
Ana: I'm excited.
Ana: Yeah, it's so many things.
Amanne: Okay, so really, quickly on your thobe , can you share with us a little bit about like, what's the story that you are telling with your thobe design?
Ana: This story I'm telling.
Ana: Like, I I thought about this in those terms, because again, I'm doing it with Lena. So of course.
Ana: yeah.
Ana: And the story I decided to tell. The 1st thing that came to my mind was not
Ana: too it like about my identity, which is fine, which is absolutely beautiful, and I love it when people do that.
Ana: But for me it was like.
Ana: like, I think, about Colombia and I. I really like Colombia, but I have never felt like the need to cultivate the land like I. I like this country, Io. I love it, but it's not like that strong of a connection like with, like the land, like indigenous connection. Because I'm not indigenous.
Ana: But in Palestine, whenever I started to think about Palestine, it was like, I want to.
Ana: I want to go cultivate the land. I want to go harvest my olive trees in my thaw.
Ana: So I decided to make myself about the connection between the land and the people. And that's basically the story I want to tell through my thobe, so make it like the designs about the ocean, the harvest
Ana: all he's gonna be all over
Ana: olive branches all over the top of it, for obvious reasons.
Amanne: Yes.
Ana: Yeah.
Amanne: How far along are you with your thought like, when when are you? When will we have the finished product to show off to everyone?
Ana: Yeah, I'm thinking, in about 4 years.
Amanne: Okay, we'll follow back up in 4 years now.
Ana: Yeah, no. But like, realistically, I'm thinking, 4 years.
Ana: because, like, I already have the design of the skirt, I already have the design of the sleeves. The fabric is ready. I just have to baste and start stitching.
Ana: I am still missing the update, but we'll see.
Lina: But you know 4 years. I feel like Anna. You're really fast. If you already you already.
Ana: No, Ion't.
Lina: And everything. No, you're pretty quick. You should see the pieces, I mean. It's only been a year, and they're huge.
Ana: I made the map like I made. I made a map of Palestine.
Ana: and it took me like 6 months to make.
Lina: Yeah, but that map was like, but that's like you.
Ana: Hi.
Ana: like the map is like half a tie, and it took me 6 months, and, like the skirt is going to be, is going to have a lot of embroidery. That's true.
Lina: Yeah, our design.
Ana: And that's simple design.
Ana: So if I have to do that design of the skirt twice, once in the front and once in the back.
Ana: and then the 2 sleeves, and then the ebay. I'm like, Yeah, we'll see it in 4 years. It's it's
Ana: fine.
Amanne: Okay, well, I want a preview of this design because I love. I love a heavy, detailed design. So I need to.
Ana: Sure I'll I'll show you. I'll show you.
Lina: And, Anna, don't you have like coffee, beans, and stuff on your design, too, as like a nod to Colombia.
Ana: Of course. Yeah, Io have coffee beans, which was the the coffee beans are like 3 main things.
Ana: The 1st one was, of course, Colombia. It was like, Io have to include Colombia in my thought. It's still part of me. It's still like my mom is Colombia, and I have to include it.
Ana: So that is the 1st thing like Colombia coffee. Of course
Ana: the other thing was my like all my entire family, they all drink coffee like a lot of my Palestinian side and my Colombian side.
Ana: Not surprising, either. But they're all like, yeah, coffee. I'm good. But
Ana: it was like also like family. But also there is a Palestinian song called the Kahwaji, the Server of Coffee, and my dad and I always sing that song together, and it all makes him cry because it sounds so Palestinian.
Ana: So that was also not only a nod to my mom and her Colombian side, but also to my dad, and like the connection with that song and everything.
Lina: I love that.
Amanne: Sweet. Yeah, I love that. Okay, before we wrap things up, though, Io want to ask a little bit about this Palestinian Colombian community that you are building around. Obviously you talked about like the workshops, and I'm sure there's like plenty of non Palestinian allies who join, too. But can you tell us a little bit about the community that you're building locally.
Ana: I mean, I'm not sure, like the Palestinian community exists. It's not like I'm building it exactly. I'm connecting to it more. I say.
Ana: I have met some Palestinian Colombian people.
Ana: not many of them, but the ones I have made. It's like so sweet. So there's
Ana: one of them is called Odette. She's like really famous. She has been invited to the UN. And everything I went to her like for my birthday. We met her in Barranquilla, which is another city in Colombia, and she has a collection of Athwab in her house, and she took me to see them, and it was like, Oh, my God. I sent Lina the pictures my face in those pictures is just like, but I mean, I'm seeing Majdalawi fabric for the 1st time. I was like, this is insane.
Ana: So one of them is her the other one, the main other person I have connected to. She's called Ft. Sam, and she's so sweet, too, she actually does the practices. Tatreez, too, which is like the 1st person I have met in Colombia who does Tariz, which was amazing. So we have connected through Tatreez.
Ana: and like, whenever I'm going to d o a class or something, I talk to her like you have to help me like, what? What should I say, what should Io? And we meet up like even virtually, to talk about the things we want to do.
Ana: We actually talked about like we we started, we're starting to plan it. We're starting to look for places we're thinking about doing like a museum exposition about Tatreez and Palestinian identity
Ana: from the dresses like we have between the 3 of us.
Ana: and we've already looked for places. We are practically good to go. It's gonna be. It's probably gonna happen next year I'll let you know.
Ana: But yeah, we'll do that, too. And we're gonna need a tour guide, which is probably gonna be me.
Ana: Because yes. Well, I know a lot about the trees by now.
Lina: And Anna any any top? 3 circles.
Ana: I mean so far, only the classes, because I don't feel like there's enough people who practice regularly
Ana: to do a Tatreez circle at least not like Tatreez circle. You know what I mean. If it's like embroidery I would like, we could probably find more people, but, like specifically Palestinian, it would be a little difficult yet.
Ana: but we're working on it. We're working on it.
Amanne: Got a few more classes to teach, to to build.
Ana: No.
Amanne: Local Tatreez, community.
Ana: Yeah, but it. But it's happening.
Amanne: Alright. Well, of course, we always like to ask our guests at the end of each episode, what is a major life lesson that you have learned from.
Ana: I feel like there are so many that I could probably talk about
Ana: one of them, and this probably you get a lot. But, like patience.
Ana: But for me it has not been patience, specifically like in the making of Tatreez
Ana: like when I started doing it, I knew that a design would take me a long time, and that it takes a while for you to see, like a lot of progress in that design that never bothered me like I was fine with taking. Ion't know months to create a project.
Ana: but I feel like it's more patience in the journey itself.
Ana: like when I started doing Tatreez. At 1st I heard all of these amazing things about people feeling like it's a magical practice, and it has brought so much to my life, and at 1st like honestly, I didn't feel that like
Ana: I I liked it, but I didn't feel like that. Magic. I felt many people were connecting to when they did the trees. And I was like, what if it's
Ana: what if I'm not doing it correctly? What if I'm missing something?
Ana: And I just kept doing it.
Ana: and in the end I started connect. I started feeling that magic, too, but it took a while, and I didn't like recognize it@ at first
Ana: So it was basically patience in the journey, and knowing that things will bring you something
Ana: meaningful in your life, but through time, and also like your journey is your own. It's gonna
Ana: it's gonna happen for you, just probably not in the way it happens to other people. But I have had like magical experiences with Patrice
Ana: like once I was. This actually happened to me. I was doing Tatreez.
Ana: I was listening to Tatreez talk, which is what do you know? And.
Lina: We didn't pay her to say that. By the way, to the listeners.
Ana: Yeah, this is not sponsored.
Ana: I was doing Tatreez, and I was thinking of this ancestral connection. And at the moment I was also feeling like I was thinking of.
Ana: yeah, that ancestral connection, and how
Ana: this was a magical practice for many people. But I wasn't feeling it yet. And then something like I feel something weird in my hand. Ion't know how to describe it. And then one thought came into my head, which was
Ana: I? This was not the thread I used too the trees with before, like I used to
Ana: like. This is not the thread I used to use.
Ana: I have only used one thread in my life like that thought wasn't mine.
Ana: It was one of my ancestors.
Ana: It just came through me. But that wasn't my thought so. It was like a direct connection. I was like, that's amazing. But then I also found a picture of my great great grandmother wearing her thobe in Beit Lam, and I was like
Ana: not only connection to Tatreez, but
Ana: we did. We have. We have it in the family, it's in, it's in the blood. It's all good.
Amanne: Okay, that's actually really cool.
Amanne: Have that picture. And we need to talk about you stitching that picture. We gotta talk about some photo tatreez stuff.
Ana: Of course, of course, because I'm with Amanne. Yeah.
Ana: But then I also found out that that ancestor, like my great, great, great grandmother. She has my same name, so that was also like this is no coincidence, absolutely.
Lina: Oh, the magic of Photo Tatreez!
Amanne: Seriously. No, it's honestly, it's been like such a pleasure hearing the way you talk about it, and hearing how it's like, revived your connection to your culture and your ancestors like I. I like my jaws been like open for most of this, because it's just really beautiful to hear you talk about it. And extremely impressive to see how far you've come along in such a short time of stitching. So
Amanne: it's amazing.
Amanne: Yeah, like, Oh.
Ana: You're doing. And you're listening to this. And you feel like there's something missing like you're worried that there's something wrong in your practice because you're not feeling it yet. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And that doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong like if you're worrying that you're doing it wrong. You're probably doing it right. So
Ana: it's all good.
Lina: Oh, I love that.
Amanne: So.
Lina: Anna, thank you so much for joining us. It was such a pleasure. I adore working with you and seeing your work, and I can't wait to share your thobe when you're done with it to the rest of the world. But thank you for the time we so appreciate it.
Ana: See you in 4 years.
Amanne: Well, and before we let you go, where can people like find you? If they wanna, you know, see your work? If they want to hear. Your your work.
Lina: And if they're and if they're in Colombia to take one of your classes, that's.
Amanne: Yes.
Ana: Yeah, of course, or in Latin, I mean, I cano. I've also done many virtual classes, so it's good. It's good. You don't have to.
Ana: I have an Instagram which is probably the main way to contact me.
Ana: which is like a combination of Spanish and Arabic, which is verde, which means green in Spanish underscore, a like a underscore Zeituna, like Zeitun in Palestine, but with an a at the end.
Ana: And yeah, that's probably the main way to contact me and the how to hear the piece. Well, I
Ana: I hope you include the link in the show notes, because Ion't know.
Ana: Okay how to make people find it. But yeah.
Lina: We will link all of it. Yeah.
Amanne: Yeah.
Ana: Yeah.
Amanne: Thank you so much for, like chatting with us. This has been such an amazing conversation. It's really beautiful to hear and see. Your journey, and we'll definitely have to continue chatting. I know we'll we'll have more to chat about as you continue your journey. As you continue to grow your community locally. So thank you. Again, we really appreciate your time and your words.
Ana: Of course. Thank you so much for having me. And like, when they say that they will have you on the podcast they're not lying. So actually, yeah.
Ana: they are not mine.
Lina: No, it's true. Oh, my goodness, yes, please let us know if you want to be until.
Ana: Yeah, we take it.
Lina: Seriously.
Ana: No, because I'm here.
Lina: Yes, I love it. Oh, thank you.
Amanne: All over the world who are practicing the threes holler at us.
Lina: Thank you so much.
Ana: Much for having me I really really enjoyed.
Ana: And you, too, are you.
Amanne: You're having too.
Lina: So obviously. You guys all know now that I met Anna through the course that I had, and I just knew, like from the very beginning that I really wanted her to come on the show because
Lina: or on the podcast because, I just her passion for is so beautiful to listen to and to hear about like, really, she's just obsessed with it, and it's it feeds my obsession. So I'm just so happy that we made it happen. And I like when she told me about her music composition. I was like, oh, this is so cool! I love this, you know. It's just everything. It's so you can incorporate it everywhere. And I loved hearing her story.
Amanne: Yeah, I mean, there's like so many things I could say. It was amazing conversation. I definitely had to hold back tears when she was talking about her dad, and like how her dad said, like, you're my connection to both like that's just oh, my heart! I like I can't.
Lina: Yeah.
Amanne: But it was really beautiful to hear, and I also really appreciate what she said about like opening up this door like beyond stitching, and it's like taught her so much about Palestinian culture, even from like geography and customs and traditions. And all this stuff like I'm that
Amanne: it's just like reinforcing the thing that we always say, like Tatreez is not just stitching. It's not just the needle and thread. It's so much more. And you know, I think the more you learn about Tatreez history, the more you connect with other Palestinian Tatreez artists and hear their stories, you understand, and you really begin to feel like
Amanne: this is not just
Amanne: cross stitch. This is not just embroidery like this has, like a deeper meaning and a different, deeper story and a deeper connection. And it's just always amazing to hear that from people. And I mean, you know.
Amanne: I just absolutely love talking to Palestinians who are like
Amanne: all over the global diaspora. I think we are very both you and I are us based. Both you and I were born and raised in the Us. So like, you know, we have a stronger connection to like the Us. Based community. And from what Fatima told us, we're we're very loud, you know. We're very loud about being being Palestinians. I think it's easier for us to kind of find each other in a lot of ways.
Amanne: So it is really nice to be able to connect with Palestinians. Just globally especially like in South America, you know, especially for me with my family ties, and I'm sure for you, like.
Amanne: yeah, you're.
Lina: Oh, my God, Anna, Anna is like my, she's like my Mini, me in Colombia.
Lina: Yeah, because we have like.
Amanne: The half half.
Lina: One being you? Yeah, exactly.
Lina: Exactly. I love it. The curly hair, the obsession with the latino like Latina. Mom, I love it. It's.
Amanne: It makes me so happy.
Amanne: So cute. Yeah, no, definitely, definitely, a great conversation. And as Anna said.
Amanne: and being on that, podcast, you know
Amanne: we will have you on. Yeah.
Amanne: who have you on, you know, if you're Palestinian and you practice the Tatreez holler at us. But of course, as always. Thank you so much for listening to Tatreez talk. We do want to hear about your journey, so please share your stories with us at Tatreeztalk@gmail.com. And we might have you on. We will have you on an upcoming episode. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. On your favorite listening platform
Amanne: and be sure to leave us a 5 star review. You can follow me at @minamanne and Lina at @linasthobe, and of course you can follow the pod at @tatreeztalk. We'll talk to you soon.
