Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
A creative campaign to honour Gaza’s children came to life at the KwaZulu-Natal Society of the Arts Gallery in Durban recently.
Butterfly Souls aims to visually memorialize and honour Gaza’s children through paper butterflies, representing the lives and souls of those kids who have been killed since October 7th.
At the gallery, community members, young and old, gathered to craft unique butterflies to dedicate to each Palestinian child whose life has ended. Art supplies were provided to attendees, and the artwork created was left on display at the gallery.
It will contribute to a larger installation that is being planned for South Africa’s Youth Month in June. Locals gathered to create paper-crafted butterflies, share personal messages of hope and love, and write intentions of peace and healing onto paper messages.
The Butterfly Souls campaign was started by 2 Suns Shamsaan, Shamsaan, meaning 2 suns in Arabic. It is a South African initiative that supports the establishment of youth platforms for dialogue, promotes social activism through the creative arts and holds campaigns for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.
Nadia Meer of 2 Suns Shamsaan said: “As the assault on the children of Palestine rages on; month after month, the ongoing atrocities being committed in Gaza have continued to evoke intense emotions; feelings of immense grief, pain and rage at the endless suffering and senseless destruction that the world is witnessing.”
She said the Butterfly Souls Campaign grew out of a shared desire to transform the feelings of helplessness at the brutality and inhumanity of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“There is healing in coming together; there is remembrance in using our hands to make butterflies for the precious children of Palestine stolen from this world. Through the creation of platforms that afford the coming together of community, the harnessing of emotion fuels creative action that typifies the South African Ubuntu spirit and our shared humanity to others,” said Meer. She said the campaign aims to communally handcraft butterflies that will target the completion of 15,000+ butterflies, or as many as required, to honour every child’s life that has flown too soon.
“We must go beyond the statistics to see the human cost of the conflict and tell the human stories,” said Meer.
Meer said that once all the 15,000 or more butterflies are done, they will be turned into one massive piece of artwork, encapsulating every butterfly that represents the life of a lost child in Gaza.
Leveraging the power of collective art, she said the objective was to highlight the unprecedented violence that continues. It is to remember the thousands surviving the violence, enduring unspeakable horrors, life-changing injuries, burns, disease, inadequate medical care, and losing parents and other loved ones.
“Children have been forced to flee violence, often repeatedly, with no safe place to go, and face the terror of an uncertain future. Israel’s relentless bombardment will go down in history for creating more amputees than any other conflict,” said Meer.
The Butterfly Souls event also saw the screening of the short film “On the Side of Memory” by young Durban filmmaker Michael James. The film is set within the context of the current onslaught of the Palestinian people in Gaza and their ongoing trauma during the last 76 years of occupation.
“It was an incredible partnership between myself as a filmmaker, 2 Suns Shamsaan, and the KZNSA gallery. We came together to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people and it was amazing. We had a special workshop station set up for the butterfly creations. Children and families were invited to participate. It was fantastic to create a space for children to engage in a form of activism creatively. It was a way to remember and for them to learn what is happening in the world,” said filmmaker James.
He said the opportunity was used to reflect on the right side of memory in this context.
“It was a safe space to share views. Outside, there was a massive banner with the names of all the children who have died since October 7th. There are more than 15,000 of them. More dialogue needs to happen. It was overall a success because we brought people together to reflect and participate,” said James.
