Aslan had fallen in love with a woman whose father owned a tile workshop in Syria. In order to be with her, Jalal would break the molds in his own atelier, giving himself an excuse to return to Syria for replacements. Each time, he brought back more with him. Tragically, the wedding never did take place, as Jalal’s beloved lost her life during the war. The tiles made by Jala Aslan, however, are private spaces holding memories of his lost love; the voids created by the broken molds, meanwhile, evoke a once-thriving practice, and the disruption of Palestinian craft traditions.
Aslan’s Love Story tells this moving narrative through design, highlighting the resilience of Palestinian craft traditions through the lens of love, sacrifice, and heritage. Yet the design process, led by George Tadros in collaboration with a range of Palestinian artisans, does not aim toward a fixed or completed story. Instead, it draws a parallel between the bride- and groom-to-be and the future of Palestine itself. Like the wedding, the nation is unfinished, incomplete, and broken. The project thus expresses the lived experiences and ongoing struggles of Palestinians, along with a continuous desire to reimagine identity.
The installation brings together four major craft traditions, each linked to the five stages of traditional Palestinian wedding: the engagement (al-khitba), in which the groom asks the father of the bride for his daughter’s hand; the presentation of engagement gifts of jewelry and clothing (al-milak); the marriage contract (al-kitab); the wedding ceremony and celebration (al-zifaf); and, finally, the wedding gifts (al-nuquot) for the newlyweds, which included more jewellery and clothing as well as household items and furniture.