Just like us, an object has many lives and tells many stories. Witnesses of a presence or an absence, an object reminds us who we were and who we are, where we are from, who used to love and care for us, whom we loved and cared for. Those who left their homeland did it accompanied by their objects, or by the memory of objects they couldn’t bring.  That’s what RIMA is looking for.

RIMA is looking for objects, any objects, together with stories that come along with them. Because objects tell stories, they are the visible fragments of our biography.

Artefacts, tools, copies of documents, letters, pictures, journals, notebooks, language lesson materials and everything related to your experience of displacement and exile will be used for the RIMA exhibition that will be held at the end of 2018 in Malta.

If you wish to be part of this project choose one (or more than one) object related to your exile or displacement experience, and write the story attached to it, or record it on an audio file (languages: English, French, Italian, Arabic, Maltese). You will contribute to a project that has as its pivotal point the active collaboration of its participants. All objects will be returned to all participants at the end of the exhibition.

RIMA is a project supported by Valletta 2018 which aims to collect the narratives of various people in ‘exile’ which originate from the same feeling of departure, detachment, and desire for settlement. The RIMA project is more generally a constant reflection about migration itself, particularly the discourses that surround it. At its core, is the idea that we are all potential migrants.

If you wish to be part of this collaborative project and share your personal objects that tell a story about your exile, or the exile of a parent, please send an email on [email protected] or call 77 09 40 26.

The deadline for submissions closes on the 3rd April 2017.