‘Life under the rubble’ is a one-day public art installation in harvard yard evoking the destruction, devastation, and targeting of all aspects of gazan life today.

as of wednesday november 15th,

11,078 people have been killed by the israeli occupation, 41% are children (4506), 45% female (4969) and 55% male (6109).

50% of gazan hospitals are no longer functioning, with the rest, on the brink of collapse, with no fuel, electricity, food, or water.

Heavy bombardment has displaced 1.5 million people.

200,000 people have entirely lost their homes.

this is genocide. ceasefire now.

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PSC Actions on campus

today, we are witnessing the “Domicide” of Gaza: the deliberate destruction of home, leading to palestinian displacement and erasure

40,000 homes have been completely destroyed by Israeli bombardments

“In our homes, there were weddings, births, upbringing, teaching, and education. Our homes contained both old and new furniture. In our homes, we ate, played, conversed, laughed, and also experienced sadness. It is not easy to make them worthless or act as if they are as insignificant as a fallen cigarette butt.” -Mohammed Cloub, owner of destroyed home in Gaza

An ode to the home

We represent the testimony of the rubble to the lives, memories, and laughs it once encompassed. “The Home” speaks to the livlihoods and dreams of Gazans that were shattered by bombs. We paint a picture of a mundane living room, clearly once inhabited by children whose toys have been left behind, a newlywed whose wedding dress’s blood stains tell a story of an end rather than a beginning , and personal everyday items that indicate the complexity of the lives lost.

The virtual pictures in the description of “the home” are all intentionally of Gazan fathers, who have been championing rescue efforts and sacrificing their shares and safety for the survivors around them. Gazan fathers have faded into the background of the conversation humanizing Gazan as it centers women and children.

In the past 39 days,

today,

All schools in Gaza have been suspended or closed since the start of the escalation

"A child is killed on average every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip"

– WHO CHIEF

• 625,000 CHildren are now out of school
  
• 4400+ CHildren killed in gaza in the last month
  

"A child is killed on average every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip" -WHO Chief

An ode to education

In the context of Palestine, education, or lack thereof, has been globally weaponized.

In Gaza, the 2023-2024 school year has been halted indefinetly, leaving Gaza’s 50% school-aged population without an education. Schools, despite being explicitly protected by the UN, have become targets, endangering displaced Gazans who shelter in playgrounds and classrooms. How can students dream when their desks are empty, when their pencils are all broken, when the world denies them their very safety?

At Harvard, efforts of education about what is happening in Gaza have been attacked and mischaracterized as students have been doxxed, harassed, and intimidated for speaking up for Palestine. They have been called animals, terrorists, and suicide bombers for daring to question the systematic erasure of Palestine on campus. How can students mourn their families, learn about justice, or dream about equality, when our campus is complicit in censoring pro-Palestinian freedom of speech hence contributing to Palestinian erasure?

Gazan authorities have started using ice cream trucks to store dead bodies

Israel has targeted dozens of mosques and churches in the Gaza Strip.

An ode to death

Even in their grief and death, Gazans are denied their basic dignity and human rights. ‘The Graveyard’ representation in ‘Life Under the Rubble’ pays respect to Gazans, Muslims and Christians alike, acknowledging their diverse religious rituals of honoring the dead. In Islam, bodies are buried above ground, typically in stone structures. We highlight this practice using constructions made of the banners of names of Gazans who have died, written by members of the Harvard community. In Christianity, bodies are buried inside coffins. We hence use a singular coffin, indiciative of Palestine’s increasingly shrinking Christian population, being erased by the Israeli Occupation Forces as we speak.

Israeli airstrikes have targeted jabalia refugee camp – gaza’s largest camp. dozens were killed.

An ode to displAcement

In Arabic the word “Nazeh” was coined to refer to refugees who get displaced again after their initial expulsion. Israel’s genocidal bombing of Jabalia refugee camp after having caused its creation in the Nakba of 1948 is an indication of their intentions of Palestinian erasure. Recent Israeli aggression on Gaza has created many “Nazeh”s, to whom we dedicate “‘The refugee camp.” The scattered luggage points to the constant displacement and movement of Palestinian refugees. We also acknowledge the conditions of life in refugee camps with limited resources and basic necessities, majorly provided by the UNRWA, which have not been available during the escalation of Israeli aggression this month.

The Palestinian refugee population remains entitled to their right to return.

the diaspora

‘We’re rolling out nakba 2023'

israeli minister, avi dichter

The nakba, which means ‘catastrophe’ in arabic, refers to the mass violent disposession and displacement of palestinians in 1948.

An ode to existEnce

We exist in community with Palestinian peers here, at Harvard, whose families were displaced in 1948. In ‘The Diaspora’ we encourage you to meditate on the experience of Palestinians abroad. How do you watch as loved ones get murdered, while you are thousands of miles--and multiple oceans--away? We invoke text messages exchanged with loved ones in Gaza, as phones become a child of diaspora’s only portal to the motherland. We also portray, in a literal sense, how the events of the Nakba in 1948 mirror the events taking place in Gaza today. We ask that you reflect on your own role, witnessing the erasure of Palestinian history as it unfolds. We invite you to share these reflections on a bulletin board around some prints of Palestinian art depicting the diasporic experience.

sources & thank you

We would like to thank and credit the artistic, journalistic, and poetic research that informs this exhibition. Thank you to the Palestine Solidarity Committee community for helping make this exhibition, and Palestine organizing on campus, possible. Thank you, also, to the Dean of Students Office, and the Yard Operations team, without whom this exhibit would not have happened.

Thank you to all of you who continue to show up for Palestine.

Thank you, dear Gaza, for allowing us to tell your story.

May you live to tell it in a free Palestine.