All of Humanity in a Single Rose
- The Aleph Review
- May 27
- 12 min read
Updated: May 31
Mehvash Amin
The Aleph Review puts forth a few questions to humanist and philanthropist Nuria Rafique-Iqbal about her amazing art installation ‘Roses of Humanity’, which she put together to pay homage to the children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Nuria wishes to take the installation to many cities around the globe and to finally donate it to a Palestinian museum.
Mehvash Amin: First, tell us about the various philanthropic organisations that you head or are a part of.
Nuria Rafique-Iqbal: Fundraisers Bargain Basement Sale was co-founded back in 2005 and it's a platform for the retail industry to give back. Every year we have sales, featuring hundreds of brands who donate items that we sell at discouned pricest and we donate all funds to different charities in Pakistan. Last year we crossed over Rs 100,000,000.
Rising Stars Foundation (previously known as Pakistan Rising) was co-founded in 2007 as a relief aid organisation, which then went on to finance charity schools in Swat and Uch Sharif for underprivileged children
Then there is Labour & Love, a social enterprise to train women in handicraft skills, so they can set up their own business or work with us. We make a range of unique contemporary items and women are paid a fair price for their work to help them break the cycle of poverty.
M: Tell us a bit about your immersive art installation ‘Roses of Humanity’. How did you conceive of it?
N: ‘Roses of Humanity’ features 15,000 handmade roses, each one representing a child killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. The installation was an immersive one with sensory, audio and visual elements—the hall was filled with the scent of roses and the sound of Palestinian music, poetry and songs. Then 15,000 roses were lit up in a vivid red to represent the Rosette Nebula with the actual image of the nebula revolving above.
Each rose can be sponsored by making a donation on our fundraising page with Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). The donation will go for prosthetic limbs for child amputees.
Last January 2024, after having seen four months of horror after horror, I kept getting this recurring thought—were I to enter Jannah (heaven), I would encounter all these children who have been killed in Gaza—they would be decorating the road just like flowers decorate a garden pathway. That was where this idea of a heavenly garden came into play.
In addition, the thought of so many children facing limb amputations was very disturbing and I wanted to do something to help them. I thought initially of making items with our artisans at Labour & Love, which we could then sell and donate profits therefrom for prosthetic limbs. But the more I thought of it, the more I realised that I wanted to give expression to my thoughts—and the idea of an art installation came to mind. Art is something that speaks a universal language. For the installation, I wanted to depict the children as beautiful flowers—personally I have always thought of the rose as the most perfect flower, so I chose it to represent each child. I then researched the rose as a symbol and it has so many meanings, both religious and cultural, such as purity, perfection, innocence, love, grief—this worked well with the idea of the pure, innocent children, the most perfect of God’s creation. I had found references to this in various Hadith, but I wondered if the Quran referenced this and I came immediately to Surah Rehman, verse 37, which, when asking which favours of the Lord would one deny, mentions that if you could cut the sky asunder you would find a burning red rose. The general consensus by religious scholars was that this verse signified the end of the world, when the sky would be split into two and turn red.
However, recently, there are many scholars that now look to this verse as evidence of the accuracy of the Quran, as this description fits perfectly with the discovery of the Rosette Nebula, identified as cluster NGC2244, which was photographed by the Chandra X Observatory mission by NASA in 1999-2000.
The Rosette Nebula consists of clouds of gas and dust in space, formed by the release of gas from large stars. It is estimated to be 130 light years in diameter. It is a beautiful example of stars and gases coalescing to form a celestial body in the shape and colour of a crimson rose.
I interpreted this as a portal into heaven and it is for this reason that our installation took the shape of a blooming rose with walkways between its petals. I imagine each of the 15,000 children as sparkling stars swirling around the Rosette Nebula. taking their place in the grand rose of humanity and dancing in the magic of the universe—15,000 roses becoming one rose, just like we will all go back to the One.
To make the roses, I wanted to use discarded materials which would be transformed with the the skills of our women artisans at Labour & Love I thought this would make the project sustainable by re-using waste materials. Working with discarded material and turning it into perfect roses was intentional, as it represents the people of Gaza whose rights have been ignored, neglected and forgotten by the entire world for 70 years—yet each one of them is a perfect rose blooming in the garden of humanity.
It is true that human beings flourish when they feel heard—just like these discarded fabrics that attain beauty when they are cleaned up and with each stitch, given the structure and grace of a beautiful rose.
Furthermore, by making our roses from different coloured and textured fabrics, we actually reflect the diversity of creation and the beauty of unity. In nature, roses come in a diverse array of colours, each having its own unique appeal and allure, just like the project, which will display a variety of different coloured fabric roses, each one unique.
The idea behind this installation was to humanise those who have been dehumanised—15,000 is not just a number, it refers to 15,000 beautiful little souls who have been brutally killed. For this reason, it was very important to me that every rose be tagged with the name and age of each child. It is very different when you start to read each and every name—you understand the enormity of this horror.
I reached out to ‘Honouring the Children of Gaza’, a group of volunteers based in Berlin. I followed them on instagram—they would regularly read out the names and ages of children killed. When it got to 3000, 5000, 10,000, I messaged them and told them about my project and asked if they could share the names with me. I received a list of 10,600 names which was 370 odd pages in length—I took one look at it and closed it—I just could not go through it. Then in March 2025, when we started writing all the names, I needed additional names to take it to 15,000 (this being the official figure given by the UN in June 2024) and I was directed to the Shireen Observatory, which is a foundation set up by the family of the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was murdered by an Israeli soldier. They have recorded all the data relating to deaths and injuries in Gaza and the West Bank.
The tags that we tied around the roses were actual plant marker tags, which were fitting because:
Just like a gardener tends to his garden, lovingly marking each sapling to keep track of its growth, God tends to his garden of humanity, keeping track of our development and growth. This ties in with the idea that these Roses are these children who have had their lives cut short and are now living in peace and bliss in heaven, playing in God’s most beautiful of gardens.
These plastic tags are hardy—they are water and wind resistant. In the same way, these children were resilient—despite the circumstances they were living under, they continued to thrive and never lost their attachment to their roots and their faith.
These markers look very similar to hospital bands that are placed on newborns and the sick. This relates to the systematic destruction of all the healthcare systems in Gaza.
In order to complete the project, I brought on Sahr Bashir, an artist and Amira Haroon, a curator and I sought their advice on how best to execute the installation. Amira had the wonderful idea displaying the lists of the names of children as part of our installation. That became our Remembrance Gallery, where these pages were laminated and hung on steel wires from the ceiling, looking like white kites flying up above. It reminded me of the last poem written by the poet and educationist Refaat Alareer who was killed with his family in November 2023 by Israeli airstrikes. In that poem, he says that if he dies, someone must live to tell his story—sell his things and buy a white piece of cloth and string, and fly it up in the sky in Gaza, so a child might think that it is an angel. For this reason, we included this poem in the audio element of the installation—I actually managed to find the poem being sung as a song by the Palestinian singer Bashar Murad impromptu at a live concert and we included this song in memory of Refaat Alareer.
At the end of it all, I would then like to donate the installation to a Palestine Museum as it is their history, their children. I would like this to stay for always as a reminder of what happened and for this never to be repeated again.
M: How long did it take you to bring the whole project to fruition—what one witnessed at the Alhamra Art Centre?
N: The idea was conceived in January 2024. However, the actual making of the project took 9 months, starting in August 2024 when we were going over old BBS stock and removing items we did not want to include in the November 2024 sale. Those materials were donated to Labour & Love to start making the initial 3000 roses. The stitching of the roses then ended in April 2025. The writing of the names started March 5, 2025 and ended on April 24, the same year with over 90 people helping with the process. The names and ages were written on either side of the tags, So no matter where you were standing in the installation, you would be able to see the name of a particular child attached to the accompanying rose. The actual ‘planting’ of the roses began in April with BBS members, their family and friends, as well as our women from Labour & Love, assisting. The installation then opened on May 2 as a preview and ran from 3-18 May at Alhamra, Ustad Allah Bux Gallery 4.
M: A huge installation such as this, with all its different elements, must require a lot of work. Tell us who helped you on this journey?
N: As mentioned above, in order to complete the project, I brought in Sahr and Amira. I also included some members of the Fundraisers BBS team to get their opinions and advice on various things.
The Project started as a collaboration between Labour & Love and the Fundraisers BBS. Every year BBS has leftover stock and when we start preparations for our annual sale, we check through everything we have and remove those pieces that we no longer wish to sell. Generally we would give these items to charity. However, last August 2024, we donated all that fabric to Labour & Love.
I then reached out to Seema Aziz of Bareezé in September 2024 about the project and asked if they could donate cut pieces of fabric. They were very helpful and immediately assisted by sending over bags and bags of cut pieces. Furthermore, in January 2025 I reached out to Sapphire which is a regular sponsor of the BBS event. I was actually travelling to Abu Dhabi to see the Coldplay concert for a few days and lugged my laptop with me for the sole purpose of drafting an email to Mr Nadeem Abdullah to tell him about the project and bring Sapphire on board. It was the only email I wrote the entire trip and when I returned home to Lahore I immediately saw a positive response in my inbox! Sapphire very kindly agreed not only to donate cut pieces of fabric but to also financially sponsor the project in part. This was amazing as it allowed me to really focus on the project and ensure it was executed within time.
Others who assisted us on this project include Origami who helped with setting up the website and working on the logo, Lotus PR for assisting on PR for the event. Both organisations have worked with BBS in the past.
Tajjamul Hussain of LFD was a great help as we had an issue with the list of additional names of children killed from 1 March 2024 onwards—there was some corruption in the document and he and his team at LFD wrote an entire code for the document so we could read it properly. Without his help many names would have been missed out. We were also assisted by ARCO Plastics who provided all the storage boxes for safeguarding the installation.
Last but not least Mr Razi Ahmed, Chairperson of Alhamra Lahore Arts Council for agreeing to give us the gallery for over two weeks at a discounted rate and the entire team at Alhamra, particularly Ms Hajra Mehmood who oversees the art gallery—all so professional and a pleasure to work with.
M: How was the response to this first iteration of your work in Lahore?
N: The response has been overwhelming—many said they don’t have the words to express how it made them feel, and to be honest that is something I can understand, because I too feel lost for words if I have to explain my experience of this installation. There is one thing I have learnt through this, which is that there is great beauty in the pain.
I do feel that the installation has done what it was set out to do—to carry a message of peace and love and to make people connect with humanity. It has also allowed people to grieve for the loss that we have been witnessing for over 18 months now. So many people have come and shed tears—it is painful to think of how the children’s families must be coping with their loss.
M: I believe you plan to take this installation to other places. Tell us where and the rough time schedule?
N: Yes, the intention was always to take this installation far and wide. We shall be taking it to Islamabad end August/start of September and then on to Karachi end of December. The real aim is to take it abroad to London and Qatar, as part of a greater curated show where we can bring on other artists from around the world to participate and create something around the subject of Roses of Humanity in 2026. In this way, we can also keep raising funds for child amputees via PCRF.
At the end of it all, I would then like to donate the installation to a Palestine Museum as it is their history, their children. I would like this to stay for always as a reminder of what happened, so it is never repeated again.
M: Please briefly discuss how this project envisages helping amputee children in Gaza.
N: We have set up a Roses of Humanity fundraising page on Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), a very well established charity with a great track record. I chose PCRF as they set up the ‘Gaza Amputee Project’ which focuses on providing prosthetic limbs for child amputees in Gaza. One can go online from anywhere in the world and make a donation for prosthetic limbs through the link, which is :
M: Tell us about the women of Labour & Love: you talk of financially enabling these women through this project… were the funds given by sponsors, or through endowments to Labour & Love by regular donors?
N: Approximately 40-45 women worked on this project and were paid for every rose they made. The funds for their work as well as all the other materials were met through sponsorships—we had donations from private individuals as well as Sapphire and members of BBS. All costs of the installation were met from funds we had raised for sponsorship.
M: Tell us a bit about the peripheral gift shop items that you created around this project, and where the money raised from these will go.
N: We are making a range of items with the women artisans of Labour & Love well as other brands. We are already making Roses of Humanity t-shirts, candles and bouquets of our handmade fabric roses.
We would like to branch out and collaborate with other brands to make beautiful products based on our project—unique stand-alone products that everyone would like to buy.
The idea behind the ROH products is to give Labour & Love artisans work so they earn as well as increase awareness of the project and encourage people to donate on our fundraising page with PCRF for prosthetic limbs for child amputees, also to raise funds to take our installation abroad.
M: One final question: I believe you brought the 50-odd women who work for Labour & Love to this installation. Tell us a bit about their reactions.
N: Yes, it was really important for me that the women's craft be celebrated. They helped with tagging the roses and then with the planting of the rose garden as well. On the opening night, we had some of our women artisans come to see the garden in full bloom and see all their work.
I had explained the project to them all, yet I think they could not quite grasp it until they actually saw the Rose Garden that evening— they were taken aback by how beautiful this myriad of roses looked. It's a reminder of how beautiful collaboration is, how much more radiance we have when we work together. Many of my women sent me voice notes to say how happy they were to have been part of this and that without them being aware, they had played such a big part in expressing our common humanity.
Furthermore, every day at the installation, the supervisor of our stitch centre in Mehmood Booti, Salma, would come and make roses for two hours, so people could see the work involved. It was so lovely for visitors to interact with her, ask her about her work and thank her for overseeing the making of the roses.
If you wish to see the documentary showing how this project came about, go to the link below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15-i0jSkbzECJ1g0munkj7vGQfLOcPRoi/view?usp=drivesdk
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