Stretching 50 feet between a trendy tea shop and a bar with anti-ICE posters in Bushwick, Brooklyn-based artist and photographer Phil Buehler’s public installation presents a powerful reminder of the estimated 18,500 children killed in Gaza by Israeli forces from October 2023 to July 2025. On a chilly Thursday, February 5, passersby hurried past the names on Buehler’s temporary ‘Wall of Tears,’ displayed at 12 Grattan Street. While some people rushed by, others stopped to read the poignant list on the banner.
Buehler, a photographer from the Bronx, has a history of impactful public art projects, including portraits of Ukrainian children’s empty beds following Russian abductions and documentation of Ferguson’s response to Michael Brown’s death. Created in collaboration with Radio Free Brooklyn, his latest work will be visible until February 15. Buehler told Hyperallergic he sourced the children’s names from Gaza Health Ministry data, as reported by the Washington Post. These names are organized by the date of death, with gender indicated by two tan shades, and babies’ ages under one year marked as “<1.”
Previously, Buehler has crafted similar works, such as the 2022 ‘Wall of Liars and Deniers,’ depicting Trump allies’ election fraud claims, and the 2025 ‘Wall of Shame,’ detailing January 6 insurrectionists’ alleged crimes. Despite the familiar format, his new memorial strikes a different tone. After reading a report on Gaza’s child fatalities, Buehler sought to convey this information through art, hoping to reach a wider audience. ‘Art gets into your brain differently than reading a newspaper or social media,’ he explained, emphasizing its potential to bypass mental filters and provoke discovery.
Buehler unveiled his work on the second anniversary of five-year-old Hind Rajab’s death on January 29, 2024, killed by the Israeli military. Her last moments, captured in a distressing recording, incited global outrage. Among the 18,457 names, Rajab’s graduation photo stands out on the banner, alongside images of other children. On Thursday, Buehler mentioned plans to invite local officials like Mayor Zohran Mamdani to a forthcoming event at the site. Reflecting on his role as an artist, Buehler cited a James Baldwin quote from 1973 about artists and lovers raising awareness, hoping his work might open minds to unseen realities.
