Image: Sinan Hussein, Just a Concert, 2018

About

The Amplification Project is a participatory community-led digital archive of art and cultural productions related to forced migration and refugeehood. Our growing, crowdsourced collection features diverse works, including photographs, visual art, illustrated narratives, videos, and blogs from contributors worldwide.

Our Mission

Our mission is to document, preserve, and raise the visibility of art inspired, influenced, or affected by forced migration. We seek to:
Provide archival sanctuary for refugee artists and their allies—a secure space to protect, preserve, present, and share their work
Increase representation of refugee stories and experiences in archives
Intervene in xenophobic and anti-refugee rhetoric
Disrupt dehumanizing and depersonalizing portrayals of refugees in media and other platforms
Raise awareness and provide diverse perspectives about the myriad ways individuals and communities experience and navigate forced displacement from a global perspective
The Team Behind The Amplification Project
Kathy Carbone
Co-founder

Kathy Carbone is the director and archivist of The Amplification Project and assistant professor at the School of Information at Pratt Institute. Carbone’s research and practice sit at the nexus of contemporary art and archives, focusing on critical-creative-liberatory archival interventions, participatory cultural heritage, and utilizing archives as tactics and tools for acts of expressive resistance, community building, and social engagement. Her work has appeared in Archivaria, Archives and Records, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, The International Journal of Human Rights, Curator: The Museum Journal, Archival Science, and the Journal of Documentation.

Habibah (Biba) Sheikh
Co-founder

Biba Sheikh is an author, curator, performer, producer, and director who has worked in refugee camps to create meaningful connections through written and performative arts and storytelling. Her current projects, “Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me),” “Right To Live,” and Seed to Cedar, present situations of forced migration in the Mediterranean. Sheikh’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (USA), Born Global Foundation (ME), TransCultures Center for Sonic and Digital Arts (Brussels), and others.

Vukašin Nedeljković
Co-founder

Vukašin Nedeljković is an artist, activist, and independent scholar. They initiated the multidisciplinary platforms Asylum Archive and Fortress Europe:
www.asylumarchive.com | www.fortresseu.com In 2017, they were awarded an Arts and Activism bursary from the Arts Council/Create and published the book Asylum Archive. In 2021 Asylum Archive was featured in “The Narrow Gate of the Here - and - Now: Queer Embodiment” exhibition to mark 30 years of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. In 2021, Ronit Lentin and Nedeljković's Disavowing Asylum: Documenting Ireland’s Asylum Industrial Complex was published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Nimisha Malreddy
Graduate Assistant

Nimisha Malreddy is pursuing an MS in Information Experience Design in the School of Information at Pratt Institute in NYC. She is dedicated to merging creativity with accessibility and ensuring user experiences cater to diverse needs. As a graduate research assistant, she is thrilled to contribute to the success of The Amplification Project through her involvement in designing its website.

Navya Thakkar
Graduate Assistant

Navya Thakkar is a graduate student in the MS in Information Experience Design program at Pratt Institute. With a background in research and fine art, Thakkar is looking to enter the user experience (UX) profession, focusing on finding creative solutions to practical problems. She is also interested in artist archives and has worked with various artists on their studio practices. As a graduate volunteer, Thakkar is contributing to the The Amplification Project design team, including the design of the The Amplification Project newsletter.

Kate Rowland
Graduate Assistant

Kate Rowland is pursuing an MS in Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute, with a focus on archives.

With Gratitude

The Amplification Project owes its existence to the invaluable contributions of several community members, including one whose presence we deeply miss. Elizabeth (Lisa) Shoshany Anderson, who passed away in early 2024, played a pivotal role in shaping the early stages of our mission and vision. Her lasting impact is deeply appreciated, and we honor the foundation she helped establish. Her memory continues to inspire us.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Pinar Öğrenci, whose vision and contributions were crucial in the initial conceptualization and design of this initiative. Her efforts laid the groundwork for what The Amplification Project has become.

A special thank you goes to the UCLA graduate and undergraduate students, especially Nick Schwieterman, whose dedication and creativity were vital in developing our initial web presence. Your work brought our early digital vision to life.

We also express our sincere appreciation to Ali Sasanian and Nimisha Malreddy, our web developer/designers, whose expertise continually enhances and evolves our digital platform.

Sinan Hussein, Just A Concert, 2018
© 2024 The Amplifcation Project. All rights reserved.
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