Future Memory in Place

Dr Elena Isayev was awarded an AHRC Beyond Text grant for the project ‘Future Memory in Place’, in collaboration with Welsh artist Catrin Webster. The project united visual art and ancient history through contemporary landscape painting and research on migration in the ancient world, archaeology, manuscripts, objects, journeys, uncharted maps and music. The project gave over 2,500 school pupils in Swansea the opportunity to learn about how people relate to the place where they live or have lived, and how memories and the experience of migration can be expressed in art.

The project’s programme of activities culminated in a day of eclectic events in Swansea at the beginning of October 2011, showcasing numerous artistic creations, including sculpture, a collection of different shades of the colour blue projected on the BBC screen in Swansea city center to accompany a choir performance, and the creation of 800 Swansea skyline postcards by the school children sent around the UK to return to the city for a final exhibition.

The project was enacted through school workshops and community gatherings around Swansea, with support from the University of Exeter, Glynn Vivian Gallery, Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University, National Waterfront Museum, and Swansea Metropolitan University.

This research project is a part of the College of Humanities Visual Culture initiative.