Con-Figuring interrogates the reenactment of collective trauma as it pertains to identity construction and meaning making. With a particular focus on the ongoing Syrian crisis, the project explores the effects of the destruction of cultural material heritage on collective memory.
Collective memory is a continual process wherein individual and collective identity is developed. Through reconstruction of trauma across generations, meaning is created and maintained, forming culture. Con-Figuring points at the necessary oscillation between collective remembrance and forgetting as part of this process, towards a writing of history.
Con-Figuring, 2020, Resin, pigment and concrete, ca. 5x5x5cm