Daydreamers: Majd Abdel Hamid’s Quiet Resistance in Thread
In his first London solo exhibition, Daydreamers, Palestinian artist Majd Abdel Hamid transforms Cell Project Space into a sanctuary of slowness and reflection. Running from March 28 to May 25, 2025, the exhibition showcases Hamid’s textile-based works that intertwine personal memory, political history, and meditative labor.
Embroidery as a Medium of Resistance
Hamid employs embroidery not merely as a craft but as a means of recording, reflection, and refusal. His stitches, often wavering and imperfect, accumulate over time, embodying a deliberate counteraction to the accelerationist logic of contemporary life and algorithmic culture. By embracing slowness and repetition, Hamid’s work challenges the hyper-optimized and monetized experience of time prevalent in urban centers like London.
Reconfiguring the Binary:
In the series Daydreamers (Code) (2024–), Hamid reimagines the binary logic of the Jacquard loom’s punch card—a precursor to modern computing. Using frayed and unused fabrics collected in Beirut, he unravels and weaves them into small circles, each corresponding to a different fabric. These stitched patterns serve as a “dysfunctional” binary code, disrupting the conventional order and introducing slippages within the system.
Open-Ended Futures:
Extending his exploration of non-prescriptive futures, Hamid presents Daydreamers (Fortune Tellers) (2025–), a “carpet” of over 600 fabric fortune-tellers resembling children’s origami games. Unlike traditional fortune-tellers with predetermined answers, these bear no inscriptions, leaving the act of divination open-ended. In the exhibition’s final two weeks, visitors are invited to take one, a gesture that counters the commodification of experiences in big cities.
Portraits of Revolution:
Downstairs, the exhibition features 12-23 (End of Chapter) (2012–2023), a series of embroidered portraits of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor whose self-immolation sparked the Arab Spring. Initiated by inviting a woman from Farkha village to embroider one portrait, the project expanded to include seven more women, with Hamid completing the ninth. Over a decade, the portraits evolved, gradually reducing in form until only Bouazizi’s name remained, stitched onto a white pillowcase with leftover threads. This process reflects cycles of repetition, renunciation, and reappearance, mapping the artist’s own dislocations across shifting geopolitical landscapes.
Engaging the Community:
Complementing the exhibition, The Looms workshop invited Blackhorse Activators, a group of young creatives, to respond to Hamid’s work through embroidery and needlework. Guided by the themes of slowness and repetition, participants engaged in reflective discussions and created pieces that considered the potential of non-prescriptive acts of making within the fast-paced context of London.
Through Daydreamers, Majd Abdel Hamid offers a contemplative space that challenges the rapid tempo of modern life. His textile works serve as quiet acts of resistance, inviting viewers to slow down, reflect, and imagine alternative futures unbound by prescribed narratives.
