Oxygen Art Centre presents ROSES OF REMEMBRANCE: Honouring 20,000+ children killed in Gaza featuring an installation of paper roses by local writer and artist Rayya Liebich with the support of community members from February 9, 2026, to March 25, 2026 in the O2 vitrine exhibition space.
The paper roses are created from documented names of deceased children during the first six months of the genocide.
Liebich shares the following statement in conjunction with the public exhibition:
The Health Ministry of Gaza released a 649-page document listing the names of Palestinians killed between October 7, 2023, and August 31, 2024. In this document, published early in the genocide, 14 pages are dedicated to babies under age one. 200 pages of this document are children. In May 2025, Regional Director of UNICEF Edouard Beigbeder stated that an estimated 50,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza.
How can we grieve such unfathomable horror?
How can we avoid falling into the trap laid out by the oppressors;
to be overwhelmed, desensitized, numb, and fall into despair?
Using the death list as source material, paper flowers were created with help from members in this community to actively mourn the heartbreaking atrocity conducted by the Israeli regime. By creating art we are not only witnessing and sharing what is happening but transforming this pain into an artifact of remembrance. The paper flowers serve as an act of resistance; we refuse to be numb and look away.
This installation is an opportunity to honour each child who had a name, a dynamic beautiful life, and was unjustly killed. During this time when Valentine’s Day symbols bombard our consumer culture, let this also be a time of reflection, mourning, resistance and action: Boycott, Divest and Sanction.
Learn more about the project and the artist here.
ROSES OF REMEMBRANCE: Honouring 20,000+ children killed in Gaza is a public installation in Oxygen Art Centre’s vitrine space, O2, located on Stanley Avenue and Baker Street in downtown Nelson, B.C. The installation is initiated by local writer and artist Rayya Liebich with the support of community members who shared in the folding and remembrance of the children killed in Gaza at a small workshop held at Oxygen’s facility on February 8, 2026.
This project is an extension of Oxygen’s Exhibition & Residency program and provides support and presentation of regional, emerging artists in a public outdoor context. Liebich’s installation will be on view from February 9, 2026, to March 25, 2026. O2 is visible 24/7 throughout this duration along Nelson’s Stanley Avenue on the Nelson Trading Co. building.
featured image (above): documentation of ROSES OF REMEMBRANCE installation at nighttime with LED lights, Photo by Rayya Liebich, O2, February 10, 2026