THIS MAY, the artist Jordan Nassar reworked a nondescript booth at Frieze New York on Randalls Island into an inviting, relaxed exhibition space, adding embroidered pillows and books to recall an Arab-style majlis, or seating area. Hung on the museum-white walls were framed panels of the Palestinian-Polish-American’s intricately embroidered works, including some made in collaboration with Palestinian women whose craft is the folk art of tatreez embroidery—the heart of his own practice.

The panels featured embroideries of...