HeART of Gaza in the heart of the Bogside

Eden Place Arts Centre in the heart of Derry’s Bogside has played host to HeART of Gaza, a unique exhibition of artwork by Palestinian children aged three to 17.

HeART of Gaza is a collaboration between Irish architect Féile Butler, from Sligo, and Mohammed Timraz, from Deir al Balah in Gaza.

It emerged from a WhatsApp exchange of art between the children in Féile and Mohammed’s families. 

Féile Butler doing an art workshop in Eden Place Arts Centre.

Via social media, HeART of Gaza quickly captured the imagination of Palestinian solidarity groups around the world. 

According to Féile, there have now been more than 120 collaborative exhibitions to date, from Chicago to London, Berlin to Rome. 

IN PICTURES: The 'HeART of Gaza' Children's Art Exhibition in Derry

The exhibition of children's art was held in Eden Place Arts Centre, Pilot’s Row

Speaking to The Derry News in advance of the art workshops with students from primary schools across the city which she facilitated as part of HeART of Gaza, Féile said she had always had an awareness of the situation in Palestine. 

Students taking part in the HeART of Gaza art workshops in Eden Place Arts Centre.

“I had been involved in a tiny bit of activism in 2014 and Palestine would have been on my radar. After October 7, 2023, my Instagram got really pro-Palestinian really quickly,” she recalled.

“Mohammed found me on Instagram,” she added. “Our first conversation was probably in November 2023. He asked me if I would help him. 

“Mohammed studied French and English Literature in college and was a café owner in Gaza. He also helped his dad who was a butcher and street trader.

“His cafe got bombed, probably in the first two or three weeks of the genocide. He then decided he was going to work for his community. He has amazing networking and people skills. 

Picture drawn by Shahed Al Zaqzouq in Gaza.

“I saw really quickly what he was doing and what I really liked about him was that if the community needed clean water he’d organise a truck. During the first invasion of Rafah everyone was getting evacuated and Mohammed did a big tent drive. He managed to get 16 tents together, which would have housed about 160 people. 

“At the minute he is trying to get medicine. He was saying to me sometimes one box of medicine a week is all he is able to get but if he can get it he will get it. He is just amazing that way. I thought what he was doing was brilliant and I was being really supportive. We just started talking more and more and more and we just clicked,” smiled Féile, who said she would now consider Mohammed one of her best friends.

As Féile and Mohammed started to learn more about each other’s family, Féile asked her daughter Fia if she would send Mohammed’s nieces and nephews some art to cheer them up.

“That is what I love about art, you don’t need language and obviously nothing could get in or out of Gaza so with this, we could get across the border through WhatsApp,” said Féile.

Mohammed with Dr nick Maynard at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza.

“Fia drew a picture of animals having a pool party. We sent it over and the kids loved it and straight away they started sending art back. The first day or two it was fairly normal stuff and then really quickly there were two particular images that came in that are in the exhibition. 

“One was from Shahed Al Zaqzouq - Mohammed’s middle niece who was seven at the time. The picture she sent was of a tank. There is a family trapped in a house and outside the house there is a tank and the tank is firing into the house and the hatch is open and there is a soldier with a gun firing into the house.

“And then, coming in behind the tank is an aeroplane and the aeroplane is firing missiles at the house. However, the other detail, and this was there are so many layers of horror, is there is a cat outside and the cat is injured. It is bleeding from its neck and there are missiles from the plane coming for the cat. 

“They are all cat mad. You see quite frequently cats in the exhibition. Shahed is the cat minder of the house and the fact she had drawn that detail of the little cat trapped at the side, injured, I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. The same day a picture came in from Aysel Albana (3) whose granny lives next door to Mohammed. Albana had drawn just a stick figure with blood just coming out of its head and body and there was just red biro all over the page,” said Féile.

“When I saw those two images, in June 2024, that was my lightbulb moment. I said, ‘Mohammed, we are going to put on an exhibition. We have to share what these kids are experiencing with the world’, she added.

“I think kids never get a voice. Kids never get a say and they are the most impacted. The figures coming out now are saying 680,000 people in Gaza may be dead, of which 380,000 are kids under five. And the amputees - 10 every day. With all the bombs, the children are the ones to die first because their organs are so soft.

“HeART of GAZA gives viewers this really intimate insight into the experience of the children there. We have to share this with the world. 

HeART of Gaza art workshop in Gaza.

“The first exhibition came together in four weeks. It was in Sligo, in a little pop-up gallery. The thing that has been amazing about this is people have just bent over backwards to accommodate this exhibition. It was really well attended and we put it on Instagram and it has just completely taken off. We are currently travelling all around Ireland and there are several international exhibitions.”

HeART of Gaza can be found on Instagram (@heart.of.gaza) and Facebook (@Heart OfGaza).