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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 two dear friends, Leoncia and Talya, they decided to turn this into an action.
We began shaping a collective platform called the ‘anti-war crafting circle’ where we invite 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 genocide in Gaza, against the the ongoing suffering of the people and the children of Palestine.
These exquisite sculptures made in our workshops will be gathered and presented at a fundraising exhibition at the House of Annetta gallery in London 30th October – 2nd November 2025 when our collective will be officially launched. Newly skilled doll-makers may then create their own circles, repeating the process to manifest a global circle of solidarity through community engagement which has already started and will continue on after the exhibition ends. As Sevim said,
“What is happening in Palestine 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 Palestinians 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.
In solidarity,
Leoncia, Sevim and Talya