About Us
“We love life, when we find a passage that opens onto it.”
ونحن نحب الحياة ما استطعنا إليها سبيلا
Mahmoud Darwish
“Despite everything, we create for ourselves a simple life, just to taste its sweetness, even if only a little.”
رغم كل شيء، نخلق لأنفسنا حياة بسيطة، لنستمتع بقليل من حلاوة العيش
Mohammed Hossam
“A Thousand Cranes for Gaza” is a feeling-thinking project—a weaving of emotion and reflection, a collaborative bridge created for and with the families, brothers, and sisters in Gaza.
A thousand origami cranes: origami—an ancient and universal art—meets the spirit of Palestinian creativity. The repeated folding of paper reflects the threads of Palestinian embroidery, which safeguard stories across generations. Just as embroidery stitches weave patterns that narrate an identity, each fold of paper becomes a crane symbolizing hope and liberation.
Symbolically, the flying crane opens horizons of freedom denied to Gaza. Each folded crane is a promise of continuity, a message of solidarity, a voice declaring: “Gaza is never left alone.” It is a bridge between roots and sky, between memory and dream.
Gaza: the center of a mandala that moves us outward and inward—toward the edges of the self, of the collective, of the symbolic, and of the ethical.
This website is a meeting of paths between two visual artists from Gaza, mother and son, Najwa Khalil and Mohammed Hossam; a computer science programmer, Tariq Ziyad, also from Gaza; and an Argentine philosopher, Natalia Biesan Lentino.
Together, we created this cooperative so that people around the world may come to know the art of Mohammed Hossam and Najwa Khalil.
Within the framework of A Thousand Cranes for Gaza, Remember the Roots was born.
The family of Mohammed Hossam recounts stories of paintings that survived beneath the rubble, becoming witnesses to the resilience of both people and land. Najwa Khalil says: “Each painting was an attempt at survival, and when it survived, we survived too.”
Remember the Roots folds and weaves with images a bridge between Argentina and Gaza: threads of connection—from Gaza, Mohammed and Najwa through their art; Tariq -whose entire family is also in Gaza- building and sustaining this site through deep listening; and Natalia Biesan, from Argentina, extending geocultural threads of connection. Threads that weave meanings of profound resilience and hope.
How you can join
Everyone can be part of this initiative: by purchasing the works, printing them, and displaying them in public or private spaces—so that every wall becomes a mirror of Palestinian memory. We also invite people to share photographs of these works across social media, turning the initiative into a global movement that plants dignity and memory everywhere.
All funds collected go directly to the family of Mohammed Hossam, Najwa Khalil, and Tariq Ziyad.
