We are not numbers on the news, we are Queer/Trans Palestinians, and our love transcends empire. This work is dedicated to Queer/Trans Palestinians living in Palestine and to those in exile, living far from their Indigenous homelands. As a Palestinian lesbian artist living in North America, I created this work as an exploration of Queer Indigenous femininities.
Tatreez, Palestinian Indigenous embroidery, is an important spiritual and cultural inheritance shown here to symbolize cultural resistance, strong sumud, and the loving divinity in feminine connection. The female figures do not have full bodies and are placed in the middle of the frame. They are not grounded and unrooted yet, held together by shared sexuality, desire, and Tatreez. With overlapping outlines, they are united and woven together. Their bodies act as outlines showing Tatreez adornments and Poppies as their skin. The Poppies show rooted growth and new life flourishing in close connection with our homeland/mother. A nurturing connection enforcing strong spiritual and terrestrial protection is woven within loves’ expressions.
The women are warriors and protectors as designated by the Tatreez on their arms in banded tattoos. Their fearless courage shows in their expression of touch and sharing of Tatreez. They are resolute in their embrace, an act of empowered sexual freedom, gender fluidity, and powerful resistance to violent militarized colonial systems of oppression. Their sexual desire, sensual embrace, and care for each other are passionate forces fighting against their own erasure while giving birth to new futures.
Micaela Kaibni Raen is a Palestinian American creator, cultural worker, queer femme-dyke mother, and global Queer/Trans rights activist. She grew up in the Little Arabia community in California and graduated from Chapman University. During that time, she participated in the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc., ACT UP!, and Queer Nation. She is most known for Queer Tatreez, a style of visual art and poetics inspired by Indigenous Palestinian Tatreez embroidery. She has been awarded the Yalda Award for Poetry as well as nominations for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Her work appears in Bint el Nas; Mizna; Qafiyah Review; Chapter House; Yellow Medicine Review; The Poetry of Arab Women; El Ghourabaa; Ask the Night for a Dream; and Heaven Looks Like Us.
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