Palestine
Location
Gaza
Organization
Frameless Collective
Founders
Ibrahim Muhanna and Hasan Zaneen
Where is beauty here?
Frameless began with a need its founders felt themselves: a place in Gaza to paint, practice, talk about ideas and meet other artists. In their workshops, they saw the same need in children. Given paper and colors, children started talking about their lives, their daily routines and the things they rarely have room to say, even at home.
The collective sees beauty in Gaza in the small things people continue to do: children inventing games with whatever they have, families sharing food, neighbors helping each other, artists continuing to paint, someone stopping to notice the sea or a song. People here carry very difficult experiences, and they also carry humor, curiosity, memories, friendships and dreams.
Frameless wants people far away to see Gaza the way they do, full of artists, writers, children, ideas and imagination. The children and artists they work with need space, visibility and the chance to be seen for what they make. So the collective started asking children a question of its own: does beauty have a frame?
"I see beauty in the way people keep trying. No matter how difficult things become, people here do not give up easily. They keep looking for ways to keep going."
— HASAN ZANEEN, CO-FOUNDER"If Beit Sawa were to be depicted, there would be many scenes that could represent it: children on their way to school, workers heading to their jobs, and farmers going to their fields to cultivate the land with love and dedication."
— Hani, school teachER
"They are makers. They have their own ideas, tastes, humour, questions, and ways of imagining the world."
— Ibrahim Muhanna
What they’re building
A village that rebuilt itself by wasting nothing wants its gathering place made the same way.
Tadweer-Tech and the community are shaping plans to turn an abandoned green area into a shared outdoor space, a green field with artwork and benches crafted from the village's own recycled materials.
Frameless Collective
Frameless Collective is an artist collective founded in Gaza by visual artists Ibrahim Muhanna and Hasan Zaneen, both 20, and joined by writer Huda Helassa as project lead. Frameless makes space for artists and children in Gaza to create freely and to be seen for what they make.
Ibrahim ran his first workshop in June 2024, for 15 children, when he was 18. He watched the children grow proud of what they made and start talking to him about their lives, and he wanted that kind of space for himself and for other artists too. In spring 2026, Frameless ran workshops with about 70 children on hope and safety, shown in a home exhibition and covered by The New Arab. Over the summer, they worked with adult artists on the theme of home.
"I see beauty in the small things that people continue to do even when life around them is difficult. I see it in children inventing games with whatever they have, in artists continuing to paint, in families sharing food, in people helping each other."
-Ibrahim Muhanna