About the circle….

Our circle began when artist and craft maker Sevim Metin, whilst making a series of doll figures, looked at them all in a box and it dawned upon her that ‘they don’t want to open their eyes to this cruel world’. Out of this deeply felt expression of shared grief between Sevim and her three dear friends, Mia, Leoncia and Talya, they decided to turn this into an action.

We began shaping a collective platform called the ‘Anti-War Crafting Circle’ inviting others to join us in a one day workshop making small woollen doll heads, each carrying a message, a wish, or a question from the perspective of a doll’s naive being. These figures are not created to represent any one group, but to offer a unified stand against all warfare.

The felted doll sculptures made in our workshops were gathered and presented at a fundraising exhibition at the House of Annetta gallery in London in October 2025 where we introduced our circle in our first action against the against the ongoing suffering of the people and the children of Palestine enduring a genocide.

At the heart of the ‘Anti-War Crafting Circle is the defiance against the banal belief that war is a real and necessary part of life in this world. All wars are horrific and scar humanity. We have no choice but to let our opposition be known if we are to preserve our own humanity and work towards healing and justice.

If being anti-war is a fairy tale or a dream, this is our dream. War is not only immoral, it is also an irrational and unnecessary act which is used by and benefits  the most powerful establishments who create fear, division and hatred to feed their war narrative.  

We would like a future for all our children where their right to life is inviolable. When today  the powerful few and politicians are making genocide and all wars acceptable let us push back with our innate longing for peace for all harder than ever. 

What is happening in Palestine, in Sudan, in West Papua, in the Congo, West Sahara, Yemen is a moral issue of our time. It is a yet another terrible turning point in history; what we do about this genocide taking place in front of our eyes against innocent people, and children – and where we stand, matters, it matters a lot.

We hope that many more people will join our circle, our hands-on action to demand justice and peace in support of all peoples in their struggle for freedom. Through creating and making we can share our strength and determination to achieve this aim.

Everyone is equal in our circle. People can join temporarily or be involved as much as they wish and for as long as they want to. Our aim is no war, no hate, no cruelty, no divide and conquer and we dedicate this platform to all those suffering oppression anywhere on the planet.

‘Pain and suffering are a kind of currency passed from hand to hand until they reach someone who receives them but does not pass them on.’ Simone Weil 

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.’ Rosa Parks

In solidarity,

Leoncia, Mia, Sevim and Talya