Almost a year after its inaugural launch at a venue close to Columbia University, the exhibition Hind’s House made its return this past weekend at a bookstore in Washington Heights, commencing a three-day event starting Saturday, October 11.
The original showcase was organized by a nameless collective, Hind’s House Collective (HHC), who held the first event in a literary fraternity building just steps away from Columbia’s campus. This exhibition honored Hind Rijab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl who tragically lost her life due to Israeli military actions in 2024 while she was pleading for help. The initiative also highlighted the Gaza Solidarity Encampments, which were forcibly dismantled by the New York Police Department in a significant episode in the pro-Palestinian activism narrative. In April 2024, Columbia student activists took over Hamilton Hall and renamed it in honor of Rijab.
This year’s teach-ins, workshops, and vendor activities took place at Recirculation, a branch of the community bookstore Word Up, located at 160th Street and Riverside Drive. The walls featured artwork created by both current and former Columbia students, including an eye-catching portrait of Hind Rijab adorned with a flower crown and keffiyeh.
Ayanna Legros, an exhibiting artist, shared with Hyperallergic during a phone interview that this year’s exhibition had a broader focus, incorporating themes surrounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and authoritarianism in the U.S. Since the previous exhibition, the Trump administration had promised to penalize international students who engaged in pro-Palestine activities.
Legros, who identifies as a mixed-media artist raised near Columbia, presented a piece paying homage to Noor Abdalla, the spouse of Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil’s arrest and subsequent detention by the Trump-era Department of Homeland Security ignited widespread protests. Abdalla gave birth to their son while Khalil was confined in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana.
“I was reflecting on [Mahmoud’s] wife,” Legros elaborated on her artistic inspiration. “I wanted to highlight the historical role of women, especially the partners of individuals in social movements.”
Drawing influence from Haitian artistic movements, such as Atis Rezistans and the Movement Saint-Soleil, Legros fashioned a bottle sculpture bearing Abdalla’s likeness and the Syrian flag, aptly titled “Mother of the Protest Movement” (2025).
“Witnessing a pregnant woman enduring such circumstances was profoundly tragic, yet it becomes an entirely different reality to consider someone preparing court documents and writing a complete testimony,” Legros reflected on the complexities surrounding her artwork.
Meryl Ranzer, an artist and designer, who was also part of the previous year’s Hind’s House, showcased a collection of interpretive self-portraits she has been creating daily since October 7, 2023. Her latest artworks, prominently displayed in Recirculation, feature messages like “abolish ICE” and “free Palestine.”
“I felt it was essential to discuss how these issues are interconnected,” Ranzer stated on her motivation.
Vendors offered a range of prints and reproductions from artists based in Gaza, featuring charming illustrations of cats created by sisters Rahaf and Anfal, who communicated with Hyperallergic via WhatsApp stating they reside in the Al-Nuseirat camp in Gaza. They mentioned that custom cat portraits can be commissioned through their Instagram account Meow-mento Designs.
The three-day gathering aligned with a recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“This marks the beginning of a process aimed at rebuilding and ensuring that governments are held accountable for their actions,” Razner remarked. “It is vital to keep reminding people and centering the experiences of Palestinians and the people of Gaza.”
