Acrylic, spray paint and dmc thread on canvas (36x24in/91.5x61cm)

I paint myself in front of Jerusalem poppies, wearing the traditional white headscarf, cross-stitching a Palestinian embroidery motif straight onto my exposed skin. The embroidery is a way of reclaiming my cultural identity and voice as a Palestinian. Every stitch becomes a letter in an indigenous language that I am slowly becoming more and more fluent in, relieving the feeling of being a foreigner in my native land, skin and mind.