lost

lost is a body of work that explores collective memory through intimate exchanges. Drawing from my commercial documentary work with refugees and the storytelling workshops I facilitated during my UAL residency, I collect fragments of conversations about objects people left behind when forced to flee their homes.

I take these snippets of conversations or written reflections about items refugees, friends and visitors have lost, then create drawings by connecting their memories with my own similar experiences. This process meshes our stories together, creating visual echoes that bind our separate histories. As Grant Kester notes, "Art is not a fixed and completed object, but an unfinished conversation, a space of engagement that requires the participation of the viewer to become whole." This dialogical approach challenges the conventional relationship between art and the social world, between artist and audience, forming new connections through shared vulnerability.

lost invites viewers to participate by contributing their own stories of loss, which I interpret through drawing and printing. By developing this archive of shared absence, the work challenges media narratives about what refugees "take" from us, revealing instead how our mutual experiences can foster genuine dialogue and acceptance.

What lives and what dies in the process of making?

The UAL residency workshops evolved into a funded opportunity for "Paths of Resilience"—a narrative-driven game concept placing players in the journeys of displaced people from Palestinian, Syrian/Kurdish, Ukrainian, and Afghan backgrounds. For more information go to my commercial website: thisplacebetweenus.com