‘Herstories’, a project initiated by Radhika Hettiarachchi and implemented together with Viluthu Centre for Human Resources, is an archive of mothers’ personal narratives collected between 2012-2013 in Sri Lanka. Being one of the first memorialization projects post-war, the project was built on the foundation that the word history itself highlights an inherent flaw in the way it is recorded, as most histories in the context of militarized societies and conflicts, marginalizes female narratives. This project attempts to fill the gap in memorializing the experiences, courage and hopes of women in conflict.
The project has interviewed and archived 285 mothers’ narratives through auto-ethnographic techniques, art and story-telling. They are presented unedited and comprise of letters, ‘trees of life’ and ‘memory mapping’ as well as short video stories and photo-essays. These stories are voluntarily given from across the ethnic and geographical divides – Kilinochchi, Mulaitivu, Vavuniya, Kurunegala, Moneragala, Ampara and Batticaloa.
To learn more about the “Herstories” project go to – http://theherstoryarchive.org/
