Identities do not form in isolation—they are constructed from stories inherited, histories shared, and defining moments that shape perception. But what happens when those narratives are censored? When entire voices, faces, and histories are erased, leaving only fragments of reality?

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Elyana Shams interrogates these urgent questions through her artistic practice, exposing how the deliberate erasure of a generation’s moments doesn’t just silence—it distorts, fractures, and reshapes the way individuals and societies understand themselves and one another.

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Borrowed from her own girlhood in Tehran, her explorations in new media art peel back layers of omission to reveal the invisible forces that manipulate individual, collective, and cultural memory and identity. In this talk, she shares how new media art can challenge censorship, expose the mechanics of erasure, resurrect lost narratives, and claim what was forced to be forgotten.

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