In August, 2024, I participated in the pink mountain pit firing residency in Montrose, Colorado, where I was born. Montrose is part of the ancestral lands of the Utes, who were violently forced from their homes and land by white settlers and soldiers, many murdered in the process. The last and most complete act of ethnic cleansing was done in response to one small group of Indigenous people who violently resisted their occupiers.

Since October, 2023, I have read and absorbed acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide both in my hometown’s past and in Palestine, where similarly, an entire population of people is being ethnically cleansed and murdered because of the violent resistance of one small group of people among them. The difference between these two injustices is that I am alive to try to stop the latter.

With these lamps created in and of the land that Ute people have historically and contemporarily fostered, I have been able to support Palestinian food sovereignty through the non-profit organization Thamra ثمرة, meaning “fruit” in Arabic. Started by 22-year-old psychology student and photographer Leena Almadhoun and 24-year-old farmer and agricultural engineer Yousef Abu Rabee in early 2024, Thamra provides fresh vegetables, urban agricultural knowledge and training, clean water access, and, most of all, hope in the north of Gaza.

In fall of 2024, after the devastating martyrdom of Thamra’s co-founder Yousef Abu Rabee–murdered in an airstrike while delivering vegetables–I raffled off these lamps and sold these candle holders to support this group’s vital work. With the help of friends, family, and strangers, we were able to raise $776 for Thamra.

It is a small act to make up for the irrevocable harm my tax dollars and American-made weapons have caused in Palestine, but it is saving lives.

Update: Arches Lamp did not receive any entries, and so now is for sale for $385 + tax.

100% of these proceeds will go to Thamra to enable them to continue their work. Contact me at gracecolemanceramics@gmail.com for inquiries.