In a small corner by his home and beside a cemetery, artist Mohammad Yassin creates gravestones engraved with the names of martyrs in Gaza. He transforms marble from a silent material into a vibrant memory that preserves names, honors sacrifices, and resists forgetting during times of loss. Before the war, Yassin primarily worked in marble engraving for decorative purposes, creating plaques and street murals, which reflected beauty and social status. However, the increasing number of martyrs due to war shifted his focus towards documenting their names on gravestones, underlining a significant transition in his work from beautification to memorialization.

With the ongoing conflict resulting in the loss of countless lives, Yassin’s role has evolved into an assertion of memory and resistance against erasure. His tools have changed from those used to create beauty to those that memorialize pain, signifying a profound shift reflecting the reality in Gaza. Each gravestone has become more than just a stone inscribed with a name; it symbolizes eternity and national memory, standing as a testimony to the magnitude of loss and resilience, intertwining grief with the collective identity of the community.

Yassin articulates that his work now reflects the heavy burden of loss, as he strives to ensure that martyrs are not forgotten amidst the waves of violence. The gravestones he produces are not merely functional; they serve to inscribe a narrative of suffering and resilience that speaks not just for the dead, but for the living, preserving their stories and contributions during a time of despair.