Refuge, resistance, hope, happiness, tradition, beauty, spirituality and decolonization. Textiles are - and have long been - a powerful medium for the expression of identity, especially in times of war and crisis. What messages and stories can fabrics share? What does an outfit or a piece of clothing say about the wearer? Can textiles weave the past together with the present? Can they be an act of resistance? Important questions worth exploring in order to stitch together a fuller picture of our modern societies and inspirational people that are beating the odds around the globe.

Exclusively for ‘Textile as Resistance’, photographer Mashid Mohadjerin created a series of impactful photos and journalist Samira Bendadi wrote an equally exclusive collection of moving stories, crafting an awe-inspiring tapestry of visual and written storylines for visitors to unravel. This creative pair invites you to discover clothing and textiles as a diving board into stories that transcend religious, cultural and national borders. For both Bendadi and Mohadjerin, migration has always been an essential part of their history. Their search started in Antwerp and their stories quickly found new destinations in other parts of the world, to Paris and Beirut, but also Aleppo and Kabul. They uncovered many moving stories on many aspects of the lives of Belgian immigrants, leading us into clothing stores and textile ateliers, started and run by refugee women in Lebanon and Palestine and showing us people passing on embroidery traditions to the next generation.