Under the Oak Tree
Jacquard and handwoven textile, 175 cm x 46 cm (69 in x 18 in), 2025
Under the Oak Tree reflects on the resilience of land and memory through the quiet endurance of the Palestinian oak. Dina Nazmi Khorchid merges the textured reverse side of an older artwork—its unseen surface bearing the imprint of loss, of a collapsed home and a letter from a disappeared father—with a newly woven extension, creating a unified installation that bridges past and present. Woven elements surface like memory fragments across textures of green, yellow, and brown: tones of earth and foliage glimpsed through rustling leaves. Like the oak, long revered as a sacred, healing, and protective tree, the work offers a place of contemplation and shelter.
Drawing from the exhibition’s premise of reimagining lost paintings, Khorchid explores the tension between presence and absence. Her engagement with the title echoes an ongoing inquiry into ephemeral landscapes and the emotional geographies of diaspora, how memory clings to bark, how exile lingers in the body like root and shadow. The oak becomes not just a symbol, but a companion—steadfast even in difficult ground, steeped in myth and survival. Both elegy and invocation, the work becomes a place of quiet return, where buried histories gather, roots deepen, acorns fall, and the slow work of beginning again can unfold.
Dina Nazmi Khorchid is a visual artist working with printed and woven textiles, integrating mark-making, photography and material studies. Her hands-on process intertwines design principles with analog and digital techniques, grounded in craftsmanship and artistic expression. Khorchid’s work explores themes of displacement, ecological grief and memory access. A third-generation Palestinian refugee and daughter of a disappeared Gulf War casualty, her work reflects personal and collective narratives of loss and resilience. She holds an MFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design, USA. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Abu Dhabi Art, Art Dubai, B7L9 Art Centre, Field Projects and 421 Arts Campus.