Echoes of Home: Memory, Displacement, Resilience

In moments of forced displacement, what do people carry with them? On top of physical items that can be carried with their hands, what do they carry in their hearts, memories, and actions? This digital exhibit traces how individuals across vastly different times and geographies, from ancient Greco-Roman times to Vietnamese re-education camps, have resisted erasure and reclaimed identity through acts of sacrifice, adaptation, and remembrance. By examining both ancient and modern artifacts, we explore how displaced people preserve family, culture, and self-identity through objects, rituals, and creative expressions. Whether carrying a father through the ruins of Troy or engraving a birthday card in prison, these acts demonstrate how home is not only a place left behind but a story continuously rebuilt. Through these artifacts, we hope to center the voices, memories, and resilience of those often marginalized in dominant historical narratives, asking: how do we ensure, and what do we hold on to, when everything else is taken away?