Guest lecture 26.11. SOMATOGRAPHY OF MEMORY SEDIMENTS

Guest lecture by Selma Ćatović Hughes

Somatography of Memory Sediments: Tracing the city of elusive fragments and invisible boundaries

26 November, 15-16
Arcanum A229 (Loisto)

Composite memory of experiences resonates with the topography of our identity, establishing osmosis between the past and the present. The process of revealing tangible and elusive boundaries constructs a journey, intertwined with personal reflections and evolved into a set of renewed memories. Research proposal, Somatography of Memory Sediments, relies on the underutilized (mis)use of the ICTY archives to reveal a tactile palimpsest of collective remembrance and identifies the urgency of transitional justice accountability in the aftermath of contested judicial narratives. The conceptual process of analysis of memory sediments with its multimodal approach questions a correlation that analytical research of archival documentation can be reconciled with creative practice to enhance authenticity of individual episodic memory towards shaping the collective narratives.

About the lecturer:

Selma Ćatović Hughes grew up in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her ongoing research about memory began as a subconscious form of therapy, creating a collection of individual and collective voices. She has experimented on a number of mixed media projects of different scales, materials and functionality, exhibiting art and architecture in USA, Chile, Spain, Bosnia, and UAE. Selma’s work ‘A Series of Tactile Memory’ was awarded Public Prize at the Biennal de Ceramica d’Esplugues, Spain. Most recently she has been awarded the Paul Ré Peace Prize, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Healing Through Art. Selma holds Master and Bachelor degrees in Architecture and has been an active participant in a number of conferences and academic writings that delve into issues of transitional justice accountability, difficult histories and identity. Selma is a PhD researcher in Cultural History at the University of Turku.