Jordan Nassar
CODEBREAKERS / KEEPERS
© Jordan Nassar, photo by Andy Jackson.
Jordan Nassar engages various mediums, including fiber, wood, and glass, in honoring his Palestinian heritage through the development of an imaginary utopia for diasporic identity. Although he was born and raised in New York, his nostalgia for a return to an ancestral home propels him to revisit serene scenes of rolling hills in the many formats of his practice. Best known for his embroidered canvases drawing from traditional Palestinian textile motifs, Nassar has collaborated with women weavers from the West Bank to create some of these works. The women choose the colors and stitches that serve as framing devices for open spaces that Nassar later fills with his archetypical landscape.
In a recent pursuit, Nassar began producing inlays of wood, mother- of-pearl, and brass that continue this exploration, using varying tones and grains that solidify the pixelation of his utopic visions. The material choices for his abstract, wavy mountains recall organic elements found within a natural environment. In the form of a bench, the landscape provides a symbolic place of rest and respite for displaced people. Nassar’s work is hopeful yet conscious of the political realities that keep his world-building within the confines of his mind’s eye.
B. 1985, New York, NY
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
CO708
Jordan Nassar, i’nab huriyya (grapes of freedom), 2024, Walnut, maple, and mother of pearl, and brass. Image Courtesy of the Artist, James Cohan, New York, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, and The Third Line, Dubai.