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ALWAKIA
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: 2025
Designer: Elie El-Marji
Dimensions:
305 × 220 × 12 mm (30.5 × 22 × 1.2 cm)
Medium: Printed book
Object number: MISC.2025.14.CC.1
DescriptionBook from the ALWAKIA project.
Description from the designer:
Inspired by the violent suppression of student-led protests against genocide in Gaza, ALWAKIA (Arabic for The Protectress) responds to a world where resisting injustice is life-threatening. ALWAKIA is a statement piece of protective gear, designed for student activists who risk their bodies to amplify their voices. Crafted from bacterial nacre, a living material grown with Sporosarcina pasteurii through biomineralization, it mimics mother-of-pearl without harming ecosystems.
In the face of extractive systems, ALWAKIA collaborates with the living: bacteria, artisans, and activists, to propose a future shaped by care, resistance, and regeneration. Offering an impact-resistant, structured armour, the project draws on endangered Levantine nacre inlay traditions, fusing cultural resilience with ecological responsibility.
As student movements rise globally in the face of genocide, war, and ecocide, this biologically forged armour becomes both shield and symbol. It empowers a generation to protest injustice while preserving the crafts and ecosystems they fight for.
The museum collection includes the ALWAKIA book and film, a visual journey through the project’s design and making. Together, they capture its inspiration and intent, revealing how science, craft, and activism converge to challenge systems of violence and imagine new possibilities for resistance.
Description from the designer:
Inspired by the violent suppression of student-led protests against genocide in Gaza, ALWAKIA (Arabic for The Protectress) responds to a world where resisting injustice is life-threatening. ALWAKIA is a statement piece of protective gear, designed for student activists who risk their bodies to amplify their voices. Crafted from bacterial nacre, a living material grown with Sporosarcina pasteurii through biomineralization, it mimics mother-of-pearl without harming ecosystems.
In the face of extractive systems, ALWAKIA collaborates with the living: bacteria, artisans, and activists, to propose a future shaped by care, resistance, and regeneration. Offering an impact-resistant, structured armour, the project draws on endangered Levantine nacre inlay traditions, fusing cultural resilience with ecological responsibility.
As student movements rise globally in the face of genocide, war, and ecocide, this biologically forged armour becomes both shield and symbol. It empowers a generation to protest injustice while preserving the crafts and ecosystems they fight for.
The museum collection includes the ALWAKIA book and film, a visual journey through the project’s design and making. Together, they capture its inspiration and intent, revealing how science, craft, and activism converge to challenge systems of violence and imagine new possibilities for resistance.