Ruptured Domesticity: the archive

An archive of the trauma geographies of maps, stories and pop-up books

 
Funded by the British Academy (through the British Institute for the Study of Iraq), the archive of the trauma geographies of maps, stories and pop-up books mirror the content of the exhibition.
The maps explore people’s spatial lived and felt experiences, capturing the nuances of trauma as they manifest in place-making practices.
The ruptured pop-up books represent the immersive spatial experience of unpacking trauma geographies through storytelling. The 15 powerful narratives by Iraqis highlight the diverse ways individuals grapple with the shadows of violence, showcasing their agency as they carve out, adapt, and redefine places of refuge across various spatial scales.
These maps and ruptured pop-up books not only serve as tangible reflections of their collective memories, but the act of mapping itself also became a tool—a method to instigate and reshape new conversations in the field of spatial justice.
Here are a selection of maps and pop-up books from Ruptured Domesticity project. For the complete collection please visit the Ruptured Domesticity Visual Archive.

Ruptured Domesticity: the archive - maps
Originally from Basrah, Dr Nawrast Sabeh studied geology in Mosul for her Masters and PhD between 2003 and 2013.

Over the span of 10 years Nawrast had to cut through the country multiple journeys alongside the river Tigris between the two cities.
Ruptured Domesticity: map
Dr Rawaa Qasha is an Assistant Professor and Director of Scholarships and Cultural Relations at the University of Mosul

Rawaa is a Christian from Alqosh, North of Mosul. Her map attempts to preserve the heritage, identity and geography of the Christian village of Alqosh.
Ruptured Domesticity: map
Ali Al-Baroodi, from Mosul, is a photojournalist expert on Mosul, translator and an academic at the Department of Translation, Mosul University.

Ali’s map is a homage to home, a home lost and re-found after enduring multiple traumas materially and conceptually during the Battle for Mosul in 2014.
Ruptured Domesticity map
Born and bred in Basrah, Abrar Wadi is a Civil Engineer and a feminist activist.

Her map crosses uncomfortable tensions between the two houses that belonged to her family and her father’s second wife, and her activism as part of the feminist Tishreen Movement in Basrah in 2019 and 2020.
Ruptured Domesticity map
Shahab Sameer is a writer and a member of The Union for the Literaries and Writers in Iraq, originally from the South of Sinjar.

His map represents the trauma of thousands of Yazidis from Sinjar who were brutally uprooted from their village by ISIS attacks in 2014.
Ruptured Domesticity map
Sanar Hasan is an award-winning journalist and a feminist.

Her activism came to life during the 2019 Iraqi revolution, also known as the Tishreen Movement as she participated and documented the revolution in Baghdad’s Tahreer Square. Soon after she fled her home alone and sought refuge in the UK.
Ruptured Domesticity: pop up
Ruptured Domesticity: pop up
Ruptured Domesticity: pop up
 
Ruptured Domesticity pop up
Ruptured Domesticity pop up
Ruptured Domesticity pop up