“Being connected with your ancestors is a very powerful thing. If you break that connectivity, it’s like you’re wandering around lost.”
— Kamau Sadiki, Diving With a Purpose

It all started when I came across Diving With a Purpose (DWP), a nonprofit of divers dedicated to recovering artifacts from the wrecks of slave ships. Its founder described how, through this work, he found himself connected to his roots and ancestors, and, in doing so, to his own identity. He spoke of how many Black people in the U.S. cannot trace their lineage before slavery, and how these dives help fill that historical void.

In my research, I discovered the stories of ships like the São Paquete d’Africa, Clotilda, Fredericus Quartus, and Christianus Quintus, vessels that carried hundreds of enslaved people, many from the Makua ethnic group. Exploring their history led me to the Musiiro tradition, a natural white mask applied to the face in intricate, unique patterns. Its meaning has evolved over time; while it is now associated with beauty, it was once used as a way for young girls to connect with their ancestors.

I was fascinated by this concept. Each design is one of a kind, a statement of identity, beauty, and individuality.

I began creating a collage to explore the feeling of presence and connection to ancestry, even in the depths of the sea. As I sketched these patterns, I reflected on what it means for an identity to be erased, and how design can help us remember. By projecting these marks within coral-like cave walls, I wanted their story to be told through uniqueness and beauty, not only through trauma.

They weren’t statistics.
They were people, with dreams, hopes, and culture.

Rejecting the cold materials of enslavement  (metal, chains, and wood) the installation embraces softness and light. Fabric and coral-like textures envelop the space, transforming it into a chamber of collective memory, where absence becomes presence.

Depths of Memory celebrates the beauty left behind by generations who were kidnapped and murdered by the horrors of slavery, and the bravery of those who now dive to recover and heal that past. It is both an act of remembrance and reconnection, where beauty becomes a vessel for memory, and design a way to bring the silenced stories back to the surface.

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