Nour Al Ahmad

Project Statement

Memory Encoding is a spatial archive project which reconstructs and preserves memories of a country in turmoil. It follows the voices of individuals and their lived experiences in cities, streets and homes that are no longer accessible to them. Situated in both Damascus and London, the project narrates memories embedded within the domestic and urban conditions of these two cities simultaneously. It also explores the possibilities of collating pasts and presents simultaneously within a digital environment, and the role of temporality in memory displacement.

The process of memory storage and retrieval is not void of inconsistencies, errors or gaps in recollections. As a result, the human mind subconsciously fills the gaps with its own approximations of what may have happened, in a process called confabulation. Although this process creates memory errors, it also creates an opportunity for estimations and calculations to be made which contribute to actualising the memories. As a spatial practitioner, Nour utilises this key concept when translating authored experiences into a memory archive.

As a socio-spatial device, this project recognises how the migration of an individual is also the migration of their memories, and explores how the past events of one city are transposed to another. We often try to locate the past in material and spatial traces; we look at photo albums, hold onto objects, and tour the sites of past events. When this is not possible, this project allows for multitudes of spaces to resonate with one another solely through remembrance and reminiscence.

This project would not have been possible without the seven individuals, who wish to remain anonymous, and that have shared their memories and experiences of living in Syria.