Abstract This artistic research project explores how Afro-Emirati slavery memory can be engaged through the body as a parallel archive in the Arabian Peninsula. In the region, history has largely been shaped through written narratives connected to institutional authority and nation-building. Within this framework, histories related to Indian Ocean slavery, are not fully articulated in public discourse.
The project examines how embodied practices have carried memory across generations, instead of attempting to correct the known written history. It asks: What happens when ritual, movement, and inter-generational gestures are recognized as parallel forms of historical process ?
Through video installation, recorded performances, and oral documentation, I examine Afro-Emirati practices such as Liwa dance and domestic ceremonial rituals as embodied archives. These forms transmit history through rhythm, repetition, and gesture, operating alongside textual historiography rather than in opposition to it.
While grounded in Afro-Emirati experience, the project reflects more broadly on how history might be approached beyond event-based narration. It proposes a shift from understanding history solely as recorded information toward recognizing it as lived and transmitted knowledge. Artistic research becomes a space for acknowledging the endurance of embodied memory within complex social and political contexts.