By: A.R Manj
LAHORE — In a city where art often walks the tightrope between beauty and activism, Roses of Humanity delivers both in equal measure — with devastating grace. On display at the Alhamra Cultural Complex’s Ustad Allah Bux Gallery until May 18, the exhibition presents a garden of 15,000 hand-stitched fabric roses, each representing a Palestinian child killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The installation is organized by Labour & Love in collaboration with Bargain Basement Sale (BBS) and serves as a haunting reminder of the ongoing genocide in Gaza — a conflict far from over, but already claiming generations of lives.
A Garden of Grief and Love
From the moment one steps into the exhibition space, the atmosphere is reverent. Visitors are guided through soft lighting and quiet corridors, into a room filled with roses arranged in bush-like clusters. A gentle breeze and subtle fragrance evoke both serenity and sorrow. Each rose is stitched from recycled fabric by women artisans from Lahore’s Sheikhupura and Mehmood Booti neighborhoods — a symbol of resilience sewn into every petal.
“As you walk through the rose garden, remember that every flower you see represents a child,” curator Nuria Rafique-Iqbal told guests on opening night. The names of those children, gathered through data provided by the Shireen Observatory, are delicately inscribed on plastic tags attached to each flower — transforming the installation from a visual spectacle into a memorial.
Craftsmanship as Testimony
The exhibition includes a short documentary showcasing the making of the roses — from fabric selection to stitching — highlighting the extraordinary labor behind this tribute. The women who crafted these flowers, many of them mothers, worked for over six months to complete the project. As artisan Salma Arfa noted, “We take pride in working with our hands. We earn for our families and provide for them.”
A minute of silence follows the documentary, after which the gallery is bathed in cosmic light to resemble the Rosette Nebula, visually lifting the experience from terrestrial mourning to celestial homage.
A Living Memorial
Visitors are then guided upstairs, where the exhibition continues with photos of the artisans at work and installations of white acrylic roses bearing additional names — nearly 3,800 more children confirmed killed after the initial project began. Guests are invited to handwrite names and ages on tags and place them in the rose planters, participating directly in the act of remembrance.
All proceeds from the exhibit — including rose sponsorships, candle and t-shirt sales at an adjoining charity stall — go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), specifically to its Gaza Child Amputee Fund, which provides prosthetic limbs to injured children.
Art as Resistance, Memory as Protest
This is not an exhibition one simply views; it’s one you enter with your body and leave with your heart changed. Roses of Humanity does not dramatize loss — it makes it intimate. By weaving together craftsmanship, storytelling, and humanitarian activism, it stands as a unique form of resistance — one where memory becomes both protest and prayer.
In a cultural landscape often saturated with distraction, this installation forces pause. It is not only a memorial for the dead, but a call to action for the living.
Verdict: 5/5 – Unmissable
Whether you come to mourn, to support, or simply to understand, Roses of Humanity will leave its mark.
Visit Details:
📍 Ustad Allah Bux Gallery 4, Alhamra Cultural Complex, Lahore
📅 On display until May 18, 2025
🌐 Support the initiative or sponsor a rose at [Labour & Love’s official website]
