Athar – Notes in the Margins of the City

A counter–archive, now public

Commissioned and produced by Shubbak as part of Voices of Resilience, Athar / أثر – Notes in the Margins of the City takes shape as an immersive exhibition and interactive public installation – alongside a digital archive co-created with Young Shubbak archivists and local communities across Brent and Westminster.

Over the course of a year, the project was developed through archival training, reflection, and workshops with local communities and Young Shubbak, gathering oral histories and lived accounts. It works with what remains: fragments of sound, cyanotype images, and casts of everyday objects — assembled through collective listening and walking. The result is an archive authored by those who live these neighbourhoods.

On view at Brent Museum from 4–19 April 2026, and online. Share a memory, a name, a sound, an image — whatever you carry with you.

Artist & Co–Curator: Tasnim Mahdy
Sound designer & Co-Curator: Olivia Melkonian
Commissioned by Shubbak and created with our youth archivists and local communities. Part of Voices of Resilience.