In April 2026, Sara Ouhaddou unveiled a permanent public artwork titled Al Qalam / Poets in the Park, installed at Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza in New York City, USA. The work pays tribute to New York’s historic Arabic-speaking community of Little Syria, which flourished in Lower Manhattan from the 1880s to the 1940s and played a key role in the literary renaissance in the Middle East by creating innovative forms of Arabic literature
Sara Ouhaddou worked with the Washington Street Historical Society to create this public artwork, The centerpiece is a bright yellow 3D sculpture representing the Arabic word “al-qalam” (“the pen”) in an abstract alphabet created by Ouhaddou and covered in mosaics, alongside plaques naming the writers it honors. Two curved, mosaic-covered backrests extend the work across existing benches, featuring excerpts from nine writers in Ouhaddou’s colorful calligraphy, including Elia Abu Madi, Nasib Arida, and Kahlil Gibran.
