TETA
Who Is Modern Teta?
In Arab society grandmothers are the matriarchs and storytellers of our vibrant heritage. Modern Teta, meaning modern grandmother in Arabic, is an experiment of self-exploration and identity that embodies this nostalgic, storytelling spirit.
Modern Teta is a persona created to reintroduce Arab aesthetics to the modern world in rebuttal to western orientalist views. The Toronto-based Arab-Canadian artist behind Modern Teta is driven by the idea that positive change in the Arab world must be grounded in a renaissance of art and culture through which we could explore new values and evolve our beliefs.
Vision
To reimagine how Arab identity looks and feels when told from within, not observed from afar. Arab identity is not exotic, static, or distant. It’s alive, evolving, and self-defined.
Roots
Modern Teta's identity is rooted in the Palestinian diaspora experience drawing from familial memory, intergenerational resilience, and the emotional texture of belonging.
Photographs taken by the talented Yasmin Al-Samarrai
