Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Widad Kawar is an internationally renowned collector of Jordanian and Palestinian ethnic and cultural arts. She has amassed an extensive collection of dresses, costumes, textiles, and jewelry over the past 50 years, seeking to preserve a culture that has been largely dispersed by conflict. Kawar is known as Umm l'ibas al-falastini—the mother of Palestinian dress.
Kawar was born Widad Irani to Jalil Zand Irani and Haneh Sleh. Her father Jalil was an accomplished teacher and head of juvenile school system in British Mandate government of Palestine. She grew up in Bethlehem. She studied at a Quaker school in Ramallah and at the American University of Beirut. Kawar has made her collection available for public viewing and has mounted exhibits of Palestinian dress around the world. She has written many books on Palestinian embroidery and is seeking to establish a Gallery of Cultural Embroidery. Recently, she collaborated with Margaret Skinner on A Treasury of Stitches: Palestinian Embroidery Motifs, 1850–1950 (Rimal/Melisende).
Widad is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Center for Oriental Research. She has recently established the Teraz foundation which runs small museum in Amman Jordan to house her collection and dedicated to the preservation of cultural traditions of Jordan and Palestine.
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