I Wish I Could Send You This Glass of Water

“I Wish I Could Send You This Glass of Water” is an ongoing, collaborative drawing series between American artist Heather Layton and three Palestinian sisters— Remas (15), Enas (13), and Retal (11)—who are trying to survive the genocide in Gaza. Despite the constant threat of airstrikes, quadcopter attacks, displacements, life-threatening medical emergencies, frigid and extreme heat temperatures, mental trauma, lack of education, contaminated water, and famine, Layton and the girls have been able to exchange letters and drawings through social media messaging. Here are some of theirs, as photographed by their father, who has been a friend of Layton’s for over ten years:

“Starving people rush to get flour. A quadcopter shoots them from the air.”

“A mother is cooking. Her daughter tries to warn her that a missile is coming.”

“It is too late. They die. There is blood everywhere.”

“Families line up to get bread.”

“A missile hits them. There are body parts in the air.”

“We just want to be free.”

One sister imagines that one day she will have a bedroom that is also an art gallery.

People do not have any food.

Birds are chirping on tree branches.

A decorated donut.

“The price of food is astronomical. We can not afford to buy it.”

I wish every day that there was something that I could do as they fight for survival. I wish that I could send food. I wish that I could send them toys. I wish I could send them antibiotics. This is how the drawing series “I Wish I Could Send You This Glass of Water” started. Not as an art project, but as a way of letting the three girls know how deeply they are loved. It starts with me pouring a glass of clean water in my kitchen in Rochester, New York. The water then travels into a pipe that goes below the floorboards, out the window, down the street, through a grocery store, and across every region on earth until it goes under the Israeli border wall. When it pops up in Gaza, I had the storytelling baton over to the girls, who then decide where the pipe travels, the landscapes reflecting their own lived experiences. What starts as fiction suddenly turns to their reality. The project is a historic document that puts the stories of these three girls on record. It is an act of brave resistance within genocide, and a promise that, regardless of what happens, they will never be forgotten.

This project is ongoing. Currently, there are approximately 30 drawings. We expect that this will go to 80, 100, or more. We will continue to draw until they are in a safe place.

Should you want to donate directly to the family, here is a Gofundme campaign. 100% of donations go directly to the family as they search for food and water.

For media inquiries, click HERE.

For questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at thisglassofcleanwater@gmail.com.