Grandmother, Mother, Daughter: A 19th Century Egyptian Inheritance

Exploring the impact of archival storytelling through a site-specific spatial augmented reality exhibit in a private historic house.

Abstract

The article describes an intervention that aims at presenting research based on the application of 3D-projection mapping to create an exhibition prototype to convey the history of a private family archive in a private house. The archive is housed in the Sabit Villa in Cairo. The archive and collection span two centuries of interrelated Egyptian military, political, and diplomatic public figures and are relatively inaccessible to the public. The exhibit narrative tells of three generations of independently wealthy Egyptian Muslim women, matrilineal inheritance, Islamic inheritance laws, and trusts between 1830 and 1980. The article concludes with reflections on the impact of the exhibition on a variety of audiences.