Eyes in Gaza II arrives in New York as a quiet yet unflinching act of witness, presented by the Lucie Foundation at the St. James Chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. On view from January 22 to February 12, 2026, the exhibition gathers firsthand photographic accounts from within the Gaza Strip, a territory where daily life, memory, and survival are in constant jeopardy. Set within a sacred architectural space long associated with reflection and moral conscience, the exhibition invites visitors to slow down and confront images shaped by urgency, loss, and endurance.
The roots of
Eyes in Gaza II trace back to the Lucie Impact Award, which since 2018 has honored outstanding journalistic contributions in photography. In a historic decision, the 2023 award was granted not to a single author but to a collective of Gaza-based photojournalists whose work documented unfolding events in real time. Their photographs, often produced under extreme danger, circulated globally and reshaped public understanding of the conflict. This second chapter revisits those voices, presenting images by photographers who risked everything to record what they saw, felt, and endured.
Years later, the circumstances that prompted the original project remain painfully unresolved.
Eyes in Gaza II brings together earlier photographs alongside more recent images from those still able to work on the ground, while acknowledging the many journalists who have been forced into exile or silence. Each photograph functions as a fragment of a larger narrative, revealing everyday moments alongside profound tragedy. Together, the images resist abstraction, grounding geopolitical realities in human experience and personal testimony.
The exhibition is made possible through the support of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and its leadership, whose openness has allowed this urgent body of work to reach a wider audience.
Eyes in Gaza II is also a memorial, dedicated to Omar Al-Derawi, a 2023 Lucie Impact Award honoree killed in January 2025. His legacy, and that of his colleagues, endures through images that insist on being seen, remembered, and reckoned with.
Image:
Saher Alghorra. Palestinian children play on a swing between the tents of displaced people in the Khan Yunis camp in the southern Gaza Strip on October 28, 2024. © Saher Alghorra