Stitch Their Names

Reflect & experience the transformative power of visual art, as memory is threaded through the

Stitch Their Names Project.

A STATEMENT FROM THE PROJECT

This attack on our exhibition is a brazen attempt to smear and delegitimise the love and empathy of hundreds of stitchers and thousands of followers for their fellow human beings.

Once again, we are witnessing an attempt in this country to silence compassion and humanity. We have seen similar attacks on Palestinian children's art displayed in hospitals, on the poet Michael Rosen for Don't Mention the Children, and on musical performances that dared to speak the same truth. Just this week, an attempt to sideline the rap artist Macklemore for speaking out for Palestinian lives has drawn him far more attention and support than his critics bargained for. The world sees through these bad-faith attempts to silence those who speak out for humanity.

The names we stitch come from the Gaza Ministry of Health's register, the same source relied upon by the UN, and cited by UK Government ministers themselves in Parliament. It currently records over 73,000 people killed, more than 21,000 of them children. Tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

To some, it is the fact that we name them at all that is the threat. Naming is a recognition of their humanity and, by implication, a recognition that a terrible crime is taking place right now, on our watch.

This week alone, the register grew to include Mohammad Abdul Zinati, 15, and the paramedic Sharif Shadi Labad, killed together in Gaza City; Iman Shalouf, nearly eight months pregnant, shot dead in al-Mawasi; Udai al-Muridi, 5, killed in al-Bureij; and sisters Lana, 12, and Bana, 6, killed alongside their parents when their home in Beit Lahiya was struck, according to UNICEF. These are not statistics. They are why we stitch.

We will not be silenced for saying that people deserve to live. We will keep stitching their names, because at this point, silence is complicity.

Mary Evers

Founder & Irishwoman

Statement from Hastings Jews for Justice

We are one of the many Jewish communities around the country who say: ‘Never again – for anyone’ and who speak up in every way we are able for our brothers and sisters in Gaza as they continue to endure unimaginable suffering and demolishment. Many of us have family who were caught up and extinguished in the Holocaust; collectively we bear the trauma of this catastrophe, and we refuse to watch in silence as another group of our fellow humans is being destroyed in front of our eyes.

We were honoured to become the first Jewish group to be invited to host the exquisite and heartbreaking ‘Stitch their Names Together’ exhibition of embroidered names of those who have been killed in Gaza, and we have been offered a beautiful local church to which we can invite our fellow citizens to share with us an act of reverence and remembrance as we contemplate these embroidered panels of the names of the dead.

We know that the Christian church is, like our political leaders, moving towards a recognition of the suffering of the people of Gaza and Palestine, exemplified most recently by the Church of England’s General Synod’s decision to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, and to hear the voice of Palestinians as expressed in Kairos Palestine II. We have been moved by Bethlehem theologian and pastor Munther Isaac – of the riveting sermon ‘Christ in the Rubble’ – who has stated explicitly his gratitude to Jewish voices like ours – so few in Israel, but growing here in the UK and burgeoning in the USA – who are taking a stand against the dehumanisation and destruction of the children, women and men of Palestine.

Among those names embroidered by so many stitchers from across the entire world, are the names of thousands of children. We saw Ed Miliband pause, in his announcement of a new Government line on our toleration Israel’s policies and actions, when he was giving the number of children so far recorded as having been killed in Gaza, among the 70,000 total of deaths; “ at least 20,000 of them children” he said; and he looked up, and repeated this awful number: “...twenty (pause) thousand (pause) children...”

In our hosting of the exhibition, we plan a ‘Chapel of the Innocents’, where there will be prayers available for those wishing to pray for all people killed in the dreadful conflicts of our times – in Sudan, in Ukraine... and of course in Israel on October 7th , 2023.

It is cruelly disheartening to learn of attempts to silence the voices of those of us –Jewish and not Jewish – who seek to hold in honoured memory those whose names will otherwise disappear, along with their bodies under the rubble; and the attempt thereby to make permanent the dehumanisation and erasure of those precious children and their parents, in death as they were erased in life.

We are all the children of God.

Stitch Their Names

Our project is a profound tribute to the innumerable lives wiped out in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, honouring each individual through the act of stitching their names into fabric. In a world that reduces profound loss to mere statistics, we affirm the humanity and individuality of every person whose life has been taken. By threading each name with deliberate care, we create a communal space for grief, remembrance, mourning, and bearing witness, affording each victim the dignity of time and reflection.

This project confronts the brutal reality in Gaza—where entire families have been erased, and entire generations wiped out. Each name we stitch ensures that their stories do not fade into the anonymity of mass graves or the silence of destroyed homes.

Rooted in the rich heritage of Tatreez, the traditional Palestinian art of embroidery practiced by women for generations, we draw upon this lineage—where personal histories, narratives of the land, and expressions of resilience are meticulously stitched into fabric. Stitch by stitch, Palestinian women have woven their struggles, hopes, and memories, crafting an enduring testament to their identity and resistance. Tatreez has long served as a means of documentation and defiance amid times of pain and upheaval. In every stitch, there is meaning; through this shared act, we honour tradition and unite grief with resistance. Each thread becomes a lifeline, connecting us to the past and anchoring our protest in the present.

As women, united in purpose, we embrace this deeply personal and meditative craft, continuing the work of our foremothers. Through this project, stitching becomes an act of solidarity, a powerful memorial for those who were killed, and a call to the world to bear witness. Each stitch is a protest, a plea, and a vow that these lives, violently taken, will not be forgotten. Through this tradition, we honour both the victims and the enduring resilience of the Palestinian people. Each name is remembered, uniting their past and present in an act of love, memory, and resistance.

We use the colours of the Palestinian flag to honour those killed in Gaza—red for women, black for men, and green for children—thereby weaving national identity into our memorial. Through this collective art, we transform the pain of violent loss into a tapestry of resilience. The colours reveal the tragedy unfolding before us, transforming this craft into a weapon of truth.

Stitched art, often marginalized in militaristic, patriarchal societies, is reclaimed here as a powerful tool of expression and resistance. This international sewing circle transforms the craft into a means of shaping collective identity and stands as a protest against the states enabling this genocide and a world that, by watching in silence, is equally culpable. Through this art, we aim to catalyse meaningful political action. We come together as a community of people determined to document this atrocity. Our aim is to encourage people to stop and listen, to acknowledge the loss of humanity, and to feel their feelings of deep sadness and bewilderment at the normalising of these atrocities.