Living Threads: An Immersive Installation by Hend Al-Mansour

What does it mean to carry a culture within you — its patterns, its language, its stars?

Living Threads is an immersive installation centered on the story of a Palestinian American woman in Minnesota whose life is shaped by language, community, and the cosmos. Drawing from the blue arches and geometry of the Dome of the Rock, the space holds architecture, poetry, embroidery, and sign language in the same field of vision.

Visitors move through screen-printed Palestinian embroidery — the cyber tree, the Star of Bethlehem — and encounter ASL signs embedded in the work: Life is Better with Friends. Identity. Word. A life-size portrait shows the subject signing freedom. A darkened chamber glows with fluorescent Islamic geometric patterns beneath the constellation of the Seven Sisters.

Living Threads affirms what endures: the richness of Palestinian culture, the humanity of its people, and lives shaped by beauty, resilience, and meaning — beyond the frame of conflict.

Artist Bio:
Hend Al-Mansour is a Saudi-born Arab American installation artist whose work draws on Islamic art, Arabic aesthetics, and narratives of Middle Eastern women. Her practice encompasses screen-printed textile environments, Arabic calligraphy, and shrine-like installations that merge contemporary Islamic art with feminist storytelling. She holds an MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and an MA in Art History from the University of St. Thomas. Her work has been recognized by the McKnight Fellowship, the Jerome Fellowship in Printmaking, and multiple Minnesota State Arts Board grants, and has been exhibited internationally.

Gallery Hours:
Saturdays and Sundays: 12-4 PM

Image: Hend Al-Mansour, Life is Better With Friends, 2025, 48 x 84 inches, screen-printing on canvas.