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‘Lest We Forget' initiative in Abu Dhabi: Telling the UAE story through people's core memories
4 Aug 2025 00:34
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)Gathering heirloom jewellery, fading postcards, dusty photo albums, and personal narratives, a community-led initiative in Abu Dhabi is assembling a mosaic of lived experiences to tell the story of the We Forget is dedicated to archiving the vernacular cultural memory of the UAE, one voice at a time. Its roots are as personal and organic as the stories it preserves. It was an idea that originated from a class requirement: In 2012, a curatorial practices course at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi asked students to bring in family photographs. One of the students, a daughter of the late Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, showed an album titled 'Lest We Forget: Sheikh Sultan's Hunting Trip in Africa, 1974.'
'That's actually where we got the name,' Safiya Al Maskari, one of the initiative's founding members, told Aletihad . 'When she brought in her father's album, others were encouraged to bring their own. We realised we all had stories worth telling.'By 2014, the student-led project snowballed from a campus exhibition into an independent archival and research initiative backed by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation. The team interviews individuals across the UAE to uncover stories on what daily life was like before the country's skyscrapers and mega malls. 'We connect the images or objects we archive to oral memories. That's what gives each item its weight,' Al Maskari said. 'We ask, 'Why is this photograph important to you? What does this garment represent in your life?'' Since its inception, Lest We Forget has produced six key publications, each delving into a specific aspect of Emirati life and memory.
Family Portraits and Encounters with Sheikh Zayed One of its earliest works is 'Emirati Family Photographs' (1950–1999), a visual anthology of personal milestones - from studio portraits to birthday celebrations and first cars, all categorised by themes and enriched by personal title, 'Emirati Adornment,' documents both the tangible and intangible aspects of Emirati identity through photographs or illustrations that portray dress codes and types of adornment, such as henna and fragrance, as well as weapons and of Al Maskari's favourite archival projects — 'Sheikh Zayed: a Century of Memories' — captures personal encounters with the UAE's Founding Father.'For the Year of Zayed, we collected 100 stories from 100 individuals, who shared a memory of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, even if they didn't know him personally and saw him while they were walking with their family on the Corniche and he drove by and waved at them,' she said. 'This book is all about that. It's a very emotional publication. There are a lot of funny stories, heartfelt ones. You get to know Sheikh Zayed as an individual through other people's eyes. You see that he wasn't just any leader; to a lot of people, he felt like a father figure.'Other publications include 'Structures of Memory in the UAE,' a visual and narrative study of the architectural evolution of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah from 1914 to Abu Dhabi, produced in collaboration with NYU Abu Dhabi, features postcards from the founding years of the UAE, collected by Dr. Mohammed Al Mansouri, whose father once worked at the local post office. All these publications are available through Dukhan 421 store at 421, an independent platform dedicated to supporting emerging artists in the UAE and across the region. Capturing PerspectivesWhat distinguishes the initiative is its deep respect for personal narratives. 'We don't always fact-check every detail unless it's historically significant,' Al Maskari explained. 'Because what we're capturing is people's perspectives, their truth.'She believes that this mosaic of voices and memories is what builds the fuller story of the UAE. 'You ask 10 people about the same event, like the 22nd National Day and you'll get 10 different memories. One celebrated at the Corniche, another at home. Put them together, and you get a beautiful, multifaceted story.'Al Maskari hopes that Lest We Forget grows into a catalyst for community-driven preservation efforts.
'I want people to understand the importance of documenting and archiving,' she said. 'Sometimes all it takes is picking up your phone, sitting down with a grandparent, and asking them to tell you a story.'
