Art is an expression against disappearance. Over the past decade, as the number of people forced to flee has increased, so too has the number of artists narrating and bearing witness to forced migration and refugee experiences that would otherwise go unseen.¹ The art of forced displacement might also be conceptualized as a collective narrative and record of witness. It renders visible and testifies to complex histories and contemporary phenomena, including the legacies of colonialism, nation-state operations, climate-related disasters, and geopolitical conflicts.

Formed in 2019, The Amplification Project: Digital Archive for Forced Migration, Contemporary Art, and Action is a crowdsourced community digital archive aiming to raise the visibility of art and cultural productions inspired, influenced, or affected by forced migration and refugeehood. Founded by an international group of artists, curators, activists, and an archivist with activist and interventionist aims,² The Amplification Project provides artists and cultural producers worldwide a space and platform to preserve and disseminate their work, as well as a portal for anyone to engage with their creations (contingent on access to digital devices and internet connectivity). 

The collection includes visual artworks, photo narratives, videos, and blogs by artists and cultural producers from across four regions — the Middle East (Bahrain, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt), Europe (Ireland, Albania), Africa (Tunisia), and North America (United States) — that span from the late 1970s to 2023. Together, these materials chronicle diverse experiences of war and displacement, revolution, and institutional detention, as well as interconnected struggles against border regimes, authoritarian crackdowns, and asylum system failures. 

This essay explores the origins, methodology, and significance of The Amplification Project. It examines how this participatory community archive challenges traditional archival practices, confronts the lack of representation and misrepresentation of refugees in archives and media spaces, and actively counters xenophobic narratives while fostering connections across boundaries and borders. 

Qais Al-Sindy, The Exiled-1, 2015. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 108 x 84 in. Image courtesy of The Amplification Project and Qais Al-Sindy.

Positioning Myself and the Archive

Before continuing, I would like to clarify my relationship to The Amplification Project and situate it within community archives practices and discourses. I engage with this work as one of its co-founders, current director, and archivist with experience documenting artists’ work. As a white North American woman without refugee experience — with backgrounds in archival studies, librarianship, and the performing arts — I acknowledge the privileges and limitations that frame my understanding. To address these limitations, I actively seek input from refugee advisors and project community members, routinely sharing my work before public presentation or publication to verify representational accuracy, uncover blind spots in my understanding, and challenge privilege-based assumptions. Moreover, recognizing that refugee experiences are neither monolithic nor static but diverse and evolving across time and space, I commit to continuous learning and critical self-reflection, particularly regarding power dynamics, ethical representation, and the nuanced complexities of documenting and sharing refugee narratives. Further, I view the work of The Amplification Project and my involvement not as “enabling agency” or “giving voice” to refugees. Instead, the focus is on addressing power imbalances, silences, and misrepresentations in archives, challenging the erasure of refugee experiences from social consciousness, and disrupting anti-refugee and xenophobic rhetoric through interventionist and cross-border participatory community archiving ethics and practice.

Community archives are grassroots efforts by communities to document and share their histories on their own terms. They are often run independently (and are a response to) mainstream or institutional archives. Community archives take many forms across cultural and geographical contexts and often develop around shared experiences, identities, or missions — such as locality, race, ethnicity, shared interest, gender, sexual identity, faith, or specific events. Despite their diversity, these archives share common characteristics: they often emerge from groups underrepresented or misrepresented, or whose histories have been suppressed or excluded by institutional archives. A defining feature of community archives is the active participation of community members in documenting, managing, and sharing their histories — challenging dominant historical and political narratives and addressing exclusions and distortions in mainstream archives. Additionally, as Andrew Flinn and others have noted, many community archives, including The Amplification Project, also function as activist projects with clear political objectives, aligning with broader social justice movements that are fighting against discrimination and injustice and reshaping collective memory. As archival scholars Ricardo L. Punzalan and Michelle Caswell argue, the creation of community archives can be seen as a form of “political protest” — an effort to take control over how history is written and to amend dominant narratives about the past.

Why This Archive? Why Now?

The Amplification Project emerged from shared concerns, questions, and aspirations among its co-founders. Central to its inception was our recognition of the inadequate representation — and frequent misrepresentation — of refugee experiences in archives and mainstream media. This gap, coupled with the alarming rise of xenophobia and anti-refugee rhetoric in political and social discourse, underscored an urgent need for action. This section outlines these phenomena and the questions they continue to evoke. 

Stories about refugees are often told by others. Institutional archives, for instance, predominantly house records created about refugees rather than by them. These collections, as Dima Saber and Paula Long note, are filled with materials such as administrative files, policy documents, and NGO reports, which capture the perspectives of institutions, detailing the actions and decisions of officials and agencies with whom refugees interact, rather than refugee voices themselves. Moreover, such records frequently reduce complex human experiences and individuals to statistics and categories, failing to convey the daily realities of displacement. These patterns in institutional archives raised a critical question: How might archivists collaborate with refugee communities to create more inclusive and representative archives that authentically capture their experiences and perspectives?

As many have noted, mainstream media systematically shapes public perceptions of refugees, typically elevating political commentary and stories about refugees but not from refugees. (For these and other references, see this story on the perhaps website.) Besides rarely having a voice within news stories about them, news coverage often anonymizes refugees as faceless masses or uses dehumanizing language such as “waves” or “floods” — language that likens them to natural disasters rather than individuals or reduces them to suffering bodies, emphasizing victimhood rather than portraying the full spectrum of human identities. Even when aiming for empathy, the media often depersonalizes refugees, representing them as numbers and statistics instead of people with families, social ties, jobs, education, and aspirations. Reflecting on these media representations prompted the question: How might archivists and artists collaborate to document and amplify stories of displacement from the perspective of those displaced?

Over the past decade, there has been a disturbing rise in anti-refugee rhetoric from politicians in the US and Europe, amplified by media coverage. This trend coincided with US President Donald J. Trump’s first term and his administration’s implementation of harsh and cruel anti-immigration policies, including family separations and the caging of children at the US–Mexico border, and entry bans for asylum seekers from Muslim-majority countries. These moments in time were also framed by Trump’s inflammatory statements, such as expressing disdain for immigrants from “shithole countries,” questioning their need to be in the US. 

The 2024 US election cycle saw Trump and other Republican candidates up and down the ballot persistently characterize migrants crossing the US–Mexico border as “animals” and as an “invasion.” Similar narratives have emerged in other countries, with far-right politicians, groups, and individuals leveraging social media to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories and incite violence against refugees. This online rhetoric has led to real-world attacks on refugees and migrants in Portugal, as well as protests, rioting, and arson attacks on properties housing and linked to asylum seekers in the UK. Encountering such portrayals and events across legacy and social media sparked the question: In an era of widespread anti-refugee sentiment and racist rhetoric, how can archivists leverage archives to challenge negative narratives, counter misinformation, and promote more accurate representation in media, public discourse, and collective memory?

Even art spaces aren’t immune to these issues, as demonstrated when someone defaced Banu Cennetoğlu’s The List at the 2018 Liverpool Biennial — a work commemorating those who, since 1993, have died seeking European refuge. These events and ongoing trends underscore the complex interplay between political discourse, media representation, public perception of refugees, and the shaping of collective memory. They also highlight the urgent need for more humanizing narratives in political, social, and artistic spheres.

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Two intertwined objectives further guided the creation of this participatory community archive. First, we sought to document, preserve, and amplify global artistic practices that tell stories about forced displacement or bear witness to its realities. By connecting these diverse voices in one space, we aimed to foster a richer understanding of refugee experiences worldwide. Second, we envisioned a dedicated platform where refugee artists — and their allies — could freely preserve and share their work, ensuring their stories are told on their own terms. The co-founders asked (and continue to ask): What archival practices, systems, and technologies can we employ to raise awareness about refugee experiences? Considering the fleeting nature of exhibitions and performances, how can archives provide lasting platforms for artists’ work on displacement? Moreover, given that many artists and their audiences lack or desire access to mainstream art spaces, how can archives serve as enduring platforms for artists’ work and connect people with it?

In response to these challenges and questions, the Amplification Project co-founders developed a participatory archival methodology that prioritizes contributor agency, grassroots engagement, and transborder connections. Through this approach, we seek to directly address the representational issues and xenophobia identified above while leveraging digital technologies to create new possibilities for collaboration as well as relationship and solidarity building across borders.

Ahmed Nagy’s series, Daily Images of Chaotic Events, was created in response to poetic theatre texts written by Habibah Sheikh, a nomadic performance artist originally from Lebanon, and the curator of the Mitli Mitlak exhibition. In the text, a character named Ruba experiences the destruction of war firsthand and becomes a refugee in the process.

The series is based on pictures Nagy took with a cell phone, in the street during the Egyptian revolution. Daily Images of Chaotic Events is a cell phone capturing the Egyptian revolution. “I utilize what was happening in Egypt, and apply it as a formula to make artworks. In Egypt, what happened was fighting in the street. Through my artwork, I don’t have political say. The art itself is a great political action. When I am inspired by the streets I create something new,” says Nagy.

From left: Daily Images of Chaotic Events 4, 2011; Daily Images of Chaotic Events 6, 2011; Daily Images of Chaotic Events 8, 2011. Images courtesy of The Amplification Project, Biba Sheikh, and Ahmed Nagy.

A Participatory Archival Space

The Amplification Project harnesses digital technology to create a participatory archival space that facilitates crowd-sourced collecting and description, agency, and broad engagement across diverse communities and geographical locations. This approach disrupts traditional power relations in archives and archival practices, blurring the lines between all engaged with the archive’s materials: contributors, users, and archivists. 

The archive’s multi-community, cross-border, two-pronged collection development approach also unsettles conventional hierarchies in archives. First, anyone can contribute work narrating or contemplating displacement experiences and refugeehood to The Amplification Project by uploading text, images, audio, and video through our website. Contributors retain full rights to their submissions, have complete authority over describing and contextualizing them, and can assign tags to their works, enhancing discoverability and thematic organization within the archive. We preserve contributors’ voices, understandings, and perspectives by not altering their submissions in any way. Contributors include The Amplification Project’s co-founders, who not only share content from their own collections but also invest their expertise, time, and effort to nurture the archive’s growth and use.

Second, we also take a grassroots, dialogue-driven approach to growing the archive. We engage in one-on-one conversations with artists and cultural producers within our networks to gauge interest in contributing, remaining attuned to their unique archiving needs and perspectives. These personal interactions often lead to further connections, conversations, and contributions, creating a network effect that organically expands the project’s reach. After receiving contributions, we welcome new contributors and gather their insights on how the archive can best serve their needs, striving to build ongoing relationships. This approach has led to meaningful collaborations and friendships, such as our multi-year conversation with multidisciplinary artist and community activist Lilli Muller, who has contributed numerous artworks to The Amplification Project.

Through this dual approach to collection development — personal outreach and independent submissions — we aim to foster community and ensure contributors feel valued and know they have a voice in shaping the archive’s development. Our collection development practice is also rooted in reciprocity. When someone contributes their work, we commit to preserving and amplifying their content through featured sections on our webpage, such as “most recently added,” “most viewed,” and “surprise me,” as well as through general browse and search options. In early 2024, we extended our amplification efforts through an engaged Instagram presence and a monthly newsletter showcasing archived work and featuring interviews with contributing artists, allowing for a deeper exploration of their works and experiences. We also invite newsletter subscribers to share their news and upcoming exhibitions and performances.

The Amplification Project contains significant collections exemplifying its participatory ethos and boundary- and border-crossing approach. For instance, we hold photographs from Vukašin Nedeljković’s Asylum Archive project, an over decade-long documentation of Ireland’s Direct Provision Centers (2008–19) — the controversial institutional housing system for asylum seekers as well as Ahmed Nagy’s visual chronicles of Egyptian revolutionary turmoil (2011–18), and transnational exhibitions like Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me) (2018–24), which bridges Middle Eastern and European narratives of displacement. 

As the above approaches and collections demonstrate, The Amplification Project operationalizes a participatory archival practice through multiple, interconnected strategies. By preserving contributor authority over their materials, engaging in dialogic relationships with artists and cultural producers, maintaining grassroots outreach alongside open submission processes, and committing to reciprocal amplification of contributed works, we create an archival space that challenges traditional archival practices. Our approach recognizes that archives are not neutral repositories but active sites where power relations are negotiated, and community connections and solidarities can be fostered through intentional inclusion, dialogue, and exchange. 

Moving Forward

In his recent book on how art uniquely tells migration stories in ways the media cannot, journalist Ismail Einashe argues that “we need to use art to look and think again,” drawing attention to overlooked, disregarded, or disparaged refugee experiences in the media and other online spaces. Participatory community archives function as strategies of visibility and audibility, agency and representation, exchange and interaction. They can also serve as strategic interventions — interruptive tools that disturb and reframe public discussions, social realities and connections, and power relations.

As we move forward with The Amplification Project, we continue to grapple with complex questions of representation, ethics, community building, and the role of archives in shaping perceptions of forced migration. Rooted in collective archiving practices, our project actively participates in making visible the multifaceted experiences of refugees worldwide, inviting us all to look and think again. The project extends beyond preserving and sharing displacement-related art and cultural productions — it builds connections, counters xenophobic and anti-refugee rhetoric, and contributes to more complex and humanizing narratives about forced migration experiences. While social media and other digital platforms often amplify xenophobic and racist voices, The Amplification Project harnesses these same technologies to create counter-narratives while fostering connections where people, art, archives, and activism converge. The archive and each work in it represent acts of resilience and remembrance. Through this project, we hope to foster ongoing dialogue about displacement and explore how archives can enable community building to support refugees and serve as sites of resistance, solidarity, and transformation in the face of global displacements.  

Kathy Carbone is an assistant professor at Pratt Institute’s School of Information and co-founder/director of The Amplification Project: Digital Archive for Forced Migration, Contemporary Art, and Action. Her research interweaves critical archival studies and collective digital memory through collaborative preservation of contemporary artworks. She explores archives and archival practices as tools and methods for expressive resistance, fostering solidarity, and community building. Her publications appear in Archivaria, Archives and Records, the Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, The International Journal of Human Rights, Curator: The Museum Journal, Archival Science, and the Journal of Documentation. theamplificationproject.org

Acknowledgments:
Many thanks to Jamie Lee for their support and to James Lowry for his helpful feedback and invaluable suggestions on an earlier draft of this essay. I am also grateful to the editors of perhaps for inviting me to revise this essay, which draws on an academic article currently under preparation. Their encouragement has enabled me to present this material to a broader audience.

Notes:
1. I use the term “refugee” to refer to the various status categories (e.g., asylum seeker, asylee, internally displaced person, refugee) that individuals experiencing displacement may belong to. I acknowledge the legal and experiential distinctions among these groups but use this terminology for brevity. For legal definitions, see: “Key Migration Terms,” International Organization for Migration, 2024, and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “What Is a Refugee?,” UNHCR.

2. The founders include author, performer, director, and curator Biba Sheikh; artist, activist, and independent scholar Vukašin Nedeljković; curator Elizabeth (Lisa) Shoshany Anderson; artist Pinar Öğrenci; and, the author.

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