Palm

In the early 1980s, artist Sheila Hicks received a commission to create more than fifty artworks for the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This radiantly hued textile, titled Palm, is a smaller version of the large-scale tapestry that Hicks created for the university’s auditorium. As a primary symbol of the region’s natural resources, the palm tree is a central feature of the national emblem of Saudi Arabia, and, in Hicks’ tapestry, where yellow, blue-green, and purple fronds stretch from top to bottom.