In Urdu, amaanat is a very special belonging handed down from one generation to the next

Amaanat is an online archive that aims to record and preserve the connection between object and story. The stories behind objects inherited from immigrant ancestors are fading quickly, and with them, their connection to their roots. This project involves crowdsourcing objects and stories, 3D scanning, and audio recording the stories behind family heirlooms and quotidian objects that are culturally specific and emotionally resonant to the immigrant experience. I investigate the power of material culture to convey cultural nuances, familial histories, and the impact of migration on memory. In this era of stifling immigrant voices and erasure of histories, these stories are first-person narratives subversively situated around objects belonging to all immigrants and those who have recent immigrant ancestry.

I am interested in the migration of objects and the subsequent loss of meaning over time. Objects that hitchhiked with an immigrant to the United States may quickly lose their relevance as connections to their countries of origin fade for second and third-generation Americans. In my own home, I know very little about some objects handed down from three generations before me. I often wonder who made them. What was life like during their creation? What is lost in the intersections of memory, ownership, and the material remnant? How can the connection between meaning and object be maintained amidst a shifting landscape of global migration? The objects that immigrants carry and keep become bridges to the past and tenuous connections to places of origin. Objects in public collections, on the other hand, speak of data: date, place of origin, culture, and material. Here, objects are made strange by museum practices that don’t necessarily include human narratives. Subjective feelings like love, loss, longing, reverence, and culture or climate-specific utility is lost due to their temporal and physical distance from the land of origin and the hands of the maker. My project is about recording stories of family heirlooms and quotidian objects in families with immigrant histories, tapping into material culture’s affective potential. I plan to partner with local libraries, museums and institutions to hold "recording sessions" where interested parties can bring their “precious” objects that they or their ancestors brought with them. In these sessions, I plan to 3D scan the objects and record relevant stories. Initially preserved in an online archive, this project might find physical space in the form of 3D printed object interventions in museum settings. Open to all immigrants, this project reveals the rich diversity, interconnectedness, and interdependence of all Americans.