Local artist Phil Buehler said he unveiled the memorial display to help people “see something that they otherwise can't see.”
Isa Farfan
February 6, 2026
— 3 min read
Phil Buehler's public art installation "Wall of Tears" in Bushwick (all images Isa Farfan/Hyperallergic)
Spanning the 50-foot stretch between a hipster tea shop and a bar proudly displaying anti-ICE posters in Bushwick, a public installation by Brooklyn-based artist and photographer Phil Buehler confronts passersby with the names of the estimated 18,500 children killed by Israel in Gaza from October 2023 to July 2025.
Amid freezing temperatures on Thursday, February 5, many pedestrians scurried past the list of names on Buehler’s temporary “Wall of Tears,” which is fastened to a fence at 12 Grattan Street with zip ties. Others walking by paused to read the names listed on the banner.
Buehler is a Bronx-raised photographer whose public art projects have included portraits of the empty beds of Ukrainian children abducted by Russian forces and documentation of Ferguson in mourning after the killing of Michael Brown. His latest work, produced in collaboration with Radio Free Brooklyn, will remain on view until February 15.
The wall lists 18,457 names of children reported dead by the Gaza Health Ministry from October 2023 to July 19, 2025.In a phone call with Hyperallergic, Buehler said he drew the names of children from data compiled by the Gaza Health Ministry, which was also reported by the Washington Post last summer. The names are arranged by date of death, and their documented gender is indicated by one of two shades of tan. The age of babies who were killed before their first birthday is marked by “<1.” The data set ends in July 2025.
Buehler has created other banner-type works, including a 2022 “Wall of Liars and Deniers,” a 50-foot-long composition of Trump allies’ claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Another piece, “Wall of Shame” (2025), chronicled the alleged crimes of January 6 insurrectionists.
Though similar in form, his latest memorial takes a different tone from his Trump-related works. Buehler said he read the Post's July report on the death toll among Gaza's children and wanted to use art to ensure that the information reaches as many people as possible.
“I think art gets into your brain a different way than if you read a newspaper or social media. You can see it. It might be mysterious. It makes you discover something. It gets past some of your filters,” Buehler said.
The installation will be on view until February 15.Buehler unveiled the work on the second anniversary of the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed by the Israeli military while riding in her family's car on January 29, 2024. The moments leading up to Rajab’s murder were captured in a harrowing recording of the girl’s final pleas for help to Red Cross workers, sparking international outrage over Israel’s killing of Palestinian children.
Among the 18,457 names on Buehler’s 50-by-10-foot banner, a ubiquitous graduation photo of Rajab peers out at Grattan Street. Photos of other children are interspersed with the other names on the display.
An entry documenting the circumstances of the killing of Hind Rajab in 2024On Thursday, Buehler told Hyperallergic that he was preparing to invite local officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to an upcoming event at the Bushwick site this weekend.
He said he had recently come across a James Baldwin quote from 1973: “The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”
This line prompted Buehler to reflect on his own work, including “Wall of Tears.”
“Some people don't want to see things, or are unconscious of them,” Buehler said. “In addition to just adding more eyeballs to the story, I'm hoping maybe it opens some minds, or opens people to see something that they otherwise can't see.”
Phil Buehler has produced other banner-type works and enlarged photographs commemorating children whose lives were upended by violence.