Had the honor to collaborate with 160 others on the Temple of Peace. Each flag is a collaboration between a newcomer/refugee and an art student/designer. Each flag was made in one day, each image represents a story. Of struggle, of life and hope. This project was not about the end result, but working together on it and meeting eachother.

This tower is one made by and for humans – it is not about design or beauty, but about the message it conveigs and the effect that it has on the creators and the spectators. Something changes or happens when you personalize big theme’s such as ‘peace’.

An initiative of Ingeborg Bloem. I helped out behind the scenes with production aspects, connected people, gave 2 workshops and designed a flag with and for Maysaa. A mother of three, currently living in Gaza. We have contact via Instagram, and the idea for the flag derives from our converstions. This is her flag, a flag of hope, of sumud. It symbolises the return to her home, to her land, to reap the fruits and olives, pic oranges and lemons and eat them under the tree. A return to family and loved ones, a return as true as the sun.With this flag I hope to amplify Maysaa’s voice, the Palestinian voice.

Check out the project and latest updates on the Peace Seekers website.

Temple of Peace organising team: Ingeborg Bloem, Stefany Rietkerk , Studio Boot, Niloofar Azimian

The workshop co host: Anje Jager

Check the article about this project on dezeen.

The photos below come from this article and are made by Sem Hovingh .