About WAMM

We believe that art is a universal language that can transfer memories and knowledge across generations. Wherever you are in the world, art portrays the human struggle for a better world, and the valuable lessons therein.

We are a museum without borders.

We are a collective of countries, collectively curating and presenting our art to the world.

We act as a repository of art on social inclusion and memory.

We promote aesthetic appreciation and arts education.

We facilitate cross-border collaborations of artistic and cultural nature.

Artists around the world, confronting dire situations of war and human rights violations, often find themselves struggling alone, putting their lives at risk in vocalizing their realties through their work, as their work is often seen as instigating conflicts that are ‘over and better forgotten’. They receive little support from governments, corporate industries, or even people themselves, especially, if they bring painful issues of the past to the table.

Furthermore, many countries in the global south lack curatorial expertise, due to underdeveloped local art scenes and markets. There are few opportunities for artists, even fewer for curators, to come together in a reflective process to compare and reflect on the body of work in their countries. Simultaneously, civil society activists and educators, dealing with issues of truth, justice and reconciliation struggle with reaching and engaging average audiences, especially youth due to lack of innovative approaches and pedagogical tools to facilitate dialogue and reflection at local level. 

WAMM addresses some of the issues above by creating a common global platform where artwork can come together while respecting differentiated cultures of remembrance. It will foster appreciation of artists and artwork beyond their national borders. It will highlight commonalities and differences of how cultures remember, repress or express.  It will provide information and insights on local artists, their artistic processes connected to local memorialization efforts as well as educational material and further links to get involved.

WAMM aspires to organize cross border collaborations and a host of other activities that support artists, activists, educators and curators in the countries we feature. If you wish to support an artist, or an activity, please send us an email to [email protected] and we will connect with you.

Back in 2016, a group of people from several different countries met in Berlin and brainstormed about art as a form of education on memory and history. The idea was to create a platform where art from different continents and contexts that deal with memory and contemporary social issues could be showcased, so that a comparative perspective could emerge. The hope was this would lead to greater cooperation, understanding and solidarity among artists, curators and educators working on related topics across borders.

Eventually seven countries, with three institutional nodes in Sri Lanka, Lebanon and South Africa started working on developing the platform World Art and Memory Museum. District Six Museum, Cape Town gracefully hosted ‘Curating Cultures of Memory’, workshop that brought our country curators from Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt, Lebanon, Russia, South Africa and Sri Lanka to jointly develop a curatorial framework in 2019.

Though the group meant to meet again in 2020 in Beirut to work closely with educators, hosted by the Lebanese Association for History, the global pandemic as well as the tragedies in Lebanon have forced the team to work virtually.

Currently, WAMM presents 28 artists from seven countries. It hopes to host more countries and countries in the future as well as facilitate annual cross border events bringing together artists, curators, educators and activists who work on remembrance.