OmarJoseph Nasser-Khoury

Biography

OmarJoseph was born and raised in Jerusalem, Palestine. He has a BA in Fashion Design and Technology from London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London; and an MA in Social Anthropology from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

In addition to his own design and art work, he is a freelance consultant and researcher specialising in historic rural textiles from Palestine. His design work has pushed him towards research and curation, which in turn inspired his creative work. He continues to work in both fields.

Between 2018 and 2019, OmarJoseph worked with Birzeit University in Palestine as a lecturer and collections manager at the College of Art, Music and Design, and University Museum (BZUM) where he has been an affiliate since 2011. In 2019, he co-authored the embroidery manual Seventeen Embroidery Techniques from Palestine: an Instruction Manual. His most recent collaborations include working as a costume designer for London based filmmaker Larissa Sansour, and consultant to the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia.

Two of his design works, and embroidered jacket (2011,6016.1) and a pair of mother of pearl inlay clogs (2015,6039.1-8 & 2016,6023.1), have been acquired and exhibited by the British Museum.

(Photo – OmarJoseph by Alaa Abu Asad).

At the British Museum
During his time on the International Training Programme in 2013, OmarJoseph was based in the Middle East Department, and her partner placement was spent at Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester Museum.

In 2013 participants are asked to prepare a project outlining an exhibition proposal based on the space and programme for the British Museum’s Asahi Shimbun Displays in Room 3.  OmarJoseph’s exhibition project proposal was entitled Queer Objects: Positionality, Ideology and the Museum.

OmarJoseph’s place on the programme was generously supported by Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.

Legacy Projects
In 2018 OmarJoseph returned to the British Museum on a knowledge exchange programme to document the British Museum’s Palestinian textile collection. The project is a partnership between the British Museum’s ITP, the British Council (occupied Palestinian Territories) and the Palestine Exploration Fund. OmarJoseph returned to the British Museum in 2019 to continue this knowledge exchange programme project. He has since assisted in the selection and display of the Arab World Textile cabinet at the Al Bukhara Gallery for the rotation featuring textiles from Palestine.