The Materiality of Memory: From Ancient Skulls to Digital Spirits

Reflection on the search for physical and spiritual representation

Figure 1. Plastered skull from Beisamoun, PPNB, on display at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

The Human Tether

When I began exploring the concept of ancestry, I found myself circling around one specific obsession: Across every era of human history, we have refused to let the dead simply disappear. Instead, we’ve used our hands to pull them back, carving their essence into pendants, sculptures, and masks. It's about a biological need for a spiritual "phone line" - a way to keep the wisdom of those who came before us within arm’s reach.

The Face of the Oracle

In my research, a few specific "objects of connection" stood out, providing a blueprint for how a physical form can hold a spirit:

• The Crown of the Soul (West Africa): In West African traditions, particularly within the Benin and Yoruba cultures, the head is the seat of destiny (Ori). The heavy bronze heads created for ancestral altars weren't portraits; they were vessels. By emphasizing the eyes and the crown, these artists created a physical space where the ancestor’s power could sit and speak to the living.

• The Plastered Gaze (Neolithic Levant): Imagine digging up a skull and meticulously rebuilding its face with lime plaster and sea-shell eyes. To the people of ancient Jericho, it was a homecoming. They gave the dead a "new face" so they could look back at the family, acting as a silent oracle in the corner of the room.

• The Abstract Vessel (The Vinca Culture): Thousands of years ago in the Balkans, people made clay figures with huge, triangular faces and "all-seeing" eyes. They weren't meant to look human; they were meant to look like spirits. They were the original "user interface" between the earthly and the divine.

Figure 2: Commemorative Head of an Oba, Edo peoples; Kingdom of Benin, 18th century. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access)

From Pencil to Pixel

My creative journey started in the most ancient way possible: a sketchbook and a pencil. I started drawing and tracing the curves of these totems, trying to understand their logic. Why was that figure elongated? Why were the eyes carved with such intensity? I didn't want to copy shapes; I was trying to understand why an artist 5,000 years ago made the choices they did.

I experimented with emerging AI software, generating images and forms, and ended up 3D printing several shapes. The Ghost in the Machine

As this project evolved, I realized that static objects weren't enough. I wanted to capture that ancient human drive to actually hear the ancestor speak.

This led to a radical shift. If the Neolithic people used plaster and the Benin used bronze to "vessel" a spirit, we would use code and motors. I realized that to truly honor the "oracle" tradition, the object needed a spark of life. It needed to learn. It needed a soul. It needed to talk back and remember.

Since realizing we needed to connect the 'brain software' of the Oracle to the board's physical components, we have struggled to find a meaningful connection between the two. So for now, we have dropped the idea of a physical artifact. The prototype below:

3d printed 'Oracle' prototype on black plexi glass genealogical representation with glass stones representing the ancestors