While living in Athens, Georgia, from the late 1980s to 2010, Beverly Buchanan gifted her pulmonologist, pharmacist, neighbors, and friends a variety of impromptu artworks—sometimes out of gratitude and sometimes in lieu of payment. Juxtaposed with her better known sculptures, drawings, and photographs of “shacks,” the work on view in Beverly’s Athens showcases the humorous side of the influential artist.

Tatreez, a traditional Palestinian form of embroidery, often revolves around biographical details. When incorporated into clothing, the sequence of stitches provide clues about the wearer’s background, social status, or phase of life. Initially, Jordan Nassar embraced this traditional craft to reflect on the complications of his own diasporic life and bridge the gaps between his personal history, family heritage, and suppressed sense of homeland pride.