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The Handala Project


2024 - ongoing
Handala, Inis Oírr Ireland  .  May 2026



A series of geo-specific Handala sculptures being installed in different parts of the world as beacons of cross-cultural solidarity. Each work is a three-dimensional iteration of Handala — the iconic drawing created in 1969 by Palestinian political cartoonist, Naji al-Ali. Each ceramic Handala is handbuilt incorporating local clay from the host region, connecting Palestine to all indigenous land struggles across the globe. 






A word from Handala


.اسمي حنظلة

.أوقات بنسَأل ايش بيعني اسمي
.بقلهم أنه اسم نبتة تكبر في أصعب الظروف
.الكبار دائما لازم نشرح لهم كل اشي

.أنا من فلسطين
.ما عدتش ساكن هناك، لكن حرجع
.دائمًا براقب بشوف قد ايش قربت

.في ناس بقولولي ما أفكر فالموضع كثير
.بقولولي أركز على اشي ثاني
.وأغير هدومي. وما إمشيش حافي
.وأفرجي وجهي قبلما ارجع عبيتي
.عمري ما رح افهم الكبار

وانتوا؟
.بتمنى ما تكونوش زي الكبار
،بحب أعرف انتوا مين، وانتوا من اين
.وايش بتشعروا فقلبكم باللحظات قبلما تناموا


.اسمي حنظلة
.أنا فلسطيني
تحبوا تكونوا فلسطينيين معي؟

My name is Handala. 

Grownups ask me what my name means. 
I tell them it is the name of a plant that grows in the harshest of conditions. Grownups always seem to need to have things explained for them.

I am from Palestine. 
I don't live there anymore, but I will return.  
I'm always on the lookout for how soon I will. 

Some tell me I should pay less attention to what's happening.  They say I should focus on something else. Change my clothes. Stop walking barefoot. 
Show my face before I go back home. 
I will never understand grownups.

What about you? 
I hope you're not a grownup. 
I would love to know who you are, where you are from, what feelings run through your heart as you go to sleep.

My name is Handala. 
I am Palestinian. 
Will you be Palestinian with me?

~ poem by Alain Alameddine
One Democratic State Initiative









Handala by Peloloca


        

Artist statement

When I first encountered the drawing of Handala, I was instantly moved by him.  Though seemingly dispossessed—in tattered clothes and bare feet—one did not sense despair in him. Created in 1969 by political cartoonist Naji al-Ali, Handala has remained frozen in time as a perennial 10 year old, marking al-Ali's age when he was displaced from Palestine in the 1948 Nakba. Al-Ali drew the head of the child like a Handal, a resilient bitter gourd native to the region, and he made the figure easy to draw, facilitating the multitudes of 2D reproductions in the decades that followed. Handala travelled to Vietnam war protests; he witnessed the toppling of Apartheid in South Africa; he appeared in the Iranian Green movement in 2009, and in the BLM protests across USA in 2020. 

If a graffiti symbol embodied so much power, what could it imbue in sculptural form? This curiosity led me to build Handala in stoneware. Translating him into three dimensions also raised the challenge of honoring al-Ali’s wish that Handala’s face remain unseen until he could return to Palestine, a day that Naji would never live to see. In finding ways to honor his wish, I found that Handala's form offered a broader canvas—one that could tell stories of resistance and solidarity across cultures. This sparked the idea of creating a series of totems that paved a path home for all the world’s dispossessed, if only symbolically.








Handala on 
Inis Oírr

Aran Islands, Ireland 
May, 2026
  Handala arrives in Ireland, thanks to the invitation and support of Drop Everything, a small and mighty arts and culture organization based on Inis Oírr, Aran Islands. The sculpture was handbuilt and fired at Potadóir Studios over a short period of 2 weeks in May 2026, incorporating wild clay that was foraged from the grounds of Common Knowledge in County Clare (visible in the mending patch on Handala's shirt.) 

Owing to several unfavorable building conditions during the making of Handala, a foot exploded in the kiln during its firing process. Despite this accident, the form miraculously remained upright without collapse. Handala now stands secured with rebar. 

At the time of this writing in May 2026, Gaza reports the highest number of child amputees in the world. Since October 2023, official figures report more than 21,000 children killed in Gaza alone, not including greater Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. 




Handala, Common Knowledge, Ireland   .   2026


Handala at 
Common Knowledge

Co. Clare, Ireland 
2026 —
  After his brief respite on Inis Oírr, Handala has found a foster home at Common Knowledge, a people-led social enterprise in the Burren, Co. Clare. Situated on 50-acres of a geopark, CK teaches practical skills in building, growing, repairing, and living more sustainably, combining hands-on education with long-term stewardship of land. The site is a living model for ecological restoration, biodiversity, and preservation, and I can think of no better place for Handala as he awaits his return home.

In building Handala for Ireland, I incorporated clay foraged from the grounds of Common Knowledge, visible in the mended patch on his shirt. For his base, we found a spectacular tree stump on the grounds of CK, trimmed it to size, and secured him with rebar.  

 ⊹ A note to all visitors ⊹

At ten years old, Handala keeps vigil close to the ground. In honoring the wishes of his creator, Naji al-Ali, visitors are asked to photograph him only from behind, kneeling to his eye level—to stand where he stands and look where he looks, sharing his horizon rather than consuming his image.

To visit, you can sign up for a free biodiversity tour on the Common Knowledge event calendar on their website.  





Handala at 
Hind’s House

Nov 9-10, 2024 Handala joins artists and students gathering at Hind’s House on Nov 9-10. Hind’s House is a project of collective witnessing organized by the student encampment movement at Columbia University fighting the ongoing death, destruction and displacement in Palestine. Columbia has used all tools of oppression to repress and silence the student movement against genocide. Nonetheless, students are finding new ways to organize right outside of campus gates, converting a house into HIND’S HOUSE during the Palestinian Children’s Days of Action—one year after the children’s press conference at the Al Shifa Hospital.  






Handala in Queens, NY .  July 2024



Handala at Fallow Frames Biennial

July 13-14, 2024 The Handala sculpture appeared on a street corner in Queens, New York as part of Fallow Frames in the summer of 2024. The public engagement with the 2-foot-tall sculptural figure was overwhelming, as several passersby stopped in their tracks to engage with the piece. The public were greeted with a poem in the voice of Handala (written by Alain Alameddine), breaking the ice for deeper conversations about a political subject matter that most typically shy away from. Drawing from the public’s response, it was evident that nothing disarms better than the spirited truth-telling of a dispossessed child.