From Memory To Memorialisation

24 JULY 2025

By Alfie O’Sullivan-Neill

Legacy has been at the forefront of INQUEST’s recent work on heritage, archiving and memorialisation. Following our 40^th anniversary heritage project, Unlocking the Truth (2022-23), we are now mid-way through Unjust Deaths (2024-25). A National Heritage Lottery Fund project exploring how people resist, remember and create legacies for their families and friends who have died at the hands of the state.

What has remained unchanged over INQUEST’s 40+ year history is our unwavering commitment to bereaved families. Now, Unjust Deaths aims to memorialise their loved ones.

Workshop at the Museum of Homelessness with the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission (April 2025)

In January, we launched INQUEST’s first ever Memorialisation Working Group, bringing together 13 artists, activists, academics and people bereaved by state violence and neglect. Since then, the group has met bi-monthly to collectively explore how we can memorialise all those killed by the state

Meet our working group members:

• Abdullah Adekola is British-Nigerian writer and performer based in Leeds. He is also a board member of the David Oluwale Memorial Association. Abdullah has joined the group to ‘help to ensure the pain, resistance, and grief of people bereaved by state violence are not forgotten.’
• Anna Rose was supported by INQUEST following the avoidable death of her son in an accident at his Nursing Home. Anna believes in the power of memorialisation to both give something invaluable to currently affected families and as a creative act that has the potential to really reach people.
• CT Moor had contact with INQUEST in 2012 when her brother passed away after police contact. She enjoys writing and wishes to publish a book in future.
• David Ronan is an Irish artist based in Glasgow and an organising member of Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity, a small grassroots abolitionist group that supports prisoners in Scotland. They became interested in abolitionist organising after personally experiencing the hardship of having multiple loved ones be incarcerated.
• Jaime Starr is a queer, deaf, disabled Irish migrant, heritage consultant and historian. Their research explores marginalised community responses to heritage industry neglect. Jaime’s heritage work explores 20th century activism and under-told LGBTQIA+ and disabled histories.
• Jac St John is a lecturer at the University of Westminster. During the last few years, he has developed a work-based learning project to engage students with INQUEST’s work, alongside overseeing a series of collaborations between the Centre for Social Justice Research and grassroots campaigning organisations.
• Mohannad Bashir is a musician and activist who founded the Justice For Mouayed Campaign (J4MB). He was supported by an INQUEST caseworker who helped navigate strategic planning, legal aid, media, public speaking and much more.
• Nafisa is a communications professional with extensive experience in strategic, digital, and media communications, particularly within the human rights sector. She joined the group out of a deep interest in state-sanctioned violence, its impact on communities and the pursuit of accountability. She is also drawn to the concepts of memorialisation and the ways individuals are remembered and immortalised after death.
• Siobhán Forshaw is a curator specialising in socially engaged art practices and community-led projects. Her research centres on the role of cultural heritage in recovery from trauma and coming to terms with unjust harms. Siobhán is also a trustee at the Museum of Homelessness.
• Suyin Haynes is a Malaysian British freelance journalist, lecturer and media consultant interested in storytelling at the intersections of identity, culture and underrepresented communities.
• Susan Alexander is an artist and painter who has been supported by INQUEST following the death of her son at the hands of the police. She is a member of the INQUEST Family Reference Group and UFFC (United Families & Friends Campaign).
• Zita Holbourne is a multi-award-winning multidisciplinary artist, writer, educator, human rights campaigner, community activist and trade union leader. She is the co-founder and National Chair of BARAC UK, Joint Chair of Artists' Union England.

The group has developed a survey to help gather the thoughts and ideas from over hundred people who have been bereaved by state violence and neglect. We hope that this will help us to propel future memorialisation projects with the aim of unifying these disparate yet deeply connected deaths. gather insights from over one hundred people who have been bereaved by state violence and neglect. These responses will help shape future memorialisation projects that aim to unify these disparate yet deeply connected deaths.

The future memorial could take many forms, from gardens, to digital memorials, to annual events. If you have been bereaved by state violence or neglect, or are part of a community that  that has been impacted, we encourage you to fill in the survey, It’s important that your voice is heard.

As we move forward, we’re asking: how do we remember those who have died? How do we come together and action these ideas to finally create a space for reflection, education and collective pride in a memorial that will stand the test of time?

Legacy is the active pursuit of deciding today how we want to be remembered tomorrow, and the memorialisation working group is guiding INQUEST on that journey.