In collaboration with NASA and space-science researchers, Rakhine Memoryscape is a multidisciplinary visual storytelling and research project that documents, preserves, and reconstructs the erased geographies of displaced Rohingya communities from Rakhine State, Myanmar. At its core, the project explores how memory can be mapped—both spatially and emotionally—when physical landscapes have been destroyed, villages burned, and communities forced into exile.
The project brings together satellite imagery, geospatial analysis, oral histories, photography, mapping and 3D modeling to virtually reconstruct villages that no longer exist. Using satellite data and remote sensing technologies, former settlements are identified, traced, and layered with testimonies from survivors who now live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. These personal narratives—of home, loss, displacement, and resilience—are not treated as abstract histories, but are anchored to precise geographic coordinates, transforming memory into a living, mappable archive.

Through close collaboration with Rohingya participants, the process is deeply participatory. Survivors contribute by recalling spatial details of their villages—homes, mosques, schools, trees, pathways—which are then translated into visual and spatial representations. This co-creation ensures that the reconstructed landscapes are not only technically accurate but also culturally and emotionally grounded. In doing so, the project challenges traditional top-down approaches to mapping by placing agency in the hands of those whose histories are being documented.

Rakhine Memoryscape also expands the role of space science beyond observation into storytelling and justice. Satellite imagery, often used for surveillance or environmental monitoring, is recontextualized here as a tool for human rights documentation and memory preservation. By visualizing patterns of destruction and disappearance, the project contributes to broader conversations around accountability, evidence, and the right to remember.

The outcomes of the project include interactive digital platforms, 2D and 3D memory maps, immersive visual narratives designed for the survivors and global audiences. These outputs aim to make complex histories accessible while fostering empathy and critical engagement. Ultimately, Rakhine Memoryscape is not only an archive of loss—it is a living, evolving space where memory resists erasure, where displaced communities reclaim their histories, and where storytelling becomes a form of resilience and resistance.