‘arshif allisan: The Palestinian Protective Amulets Archive

The Palestinian Protective Amulets Archive, a speculative design project, is an amalgamation of 220 amulets acquired by Dr. Tawfiq Canaan in Palestine between 1880 - 1930 and later seen online through the Science Museum's online archive. 

When Canaan had been collecting and studying these protective amulets, they were used for many medical and spiritual ailments. While some were used to ward off the evil eye, an unseen force that brings harm, other amulets were used for specific physical ailments and diseases. Unfortunately, in the context of a digital archive, these amulets have seemingly lost their protective properties.

The chosen concept for this project was to symbolically remove the amulets from the Science Museum's digital archive, render them into a more realistic visual state, and then virtually place them in the hands of the public. The outcome is this amulet archive is parallel to the Science Museum digital archive. 

A novel feature of the project is the ability to bless an amulet, utilizing blockchain technology to immortalize the blessings in the virtual space. This feature gives validity and security to the mystical properties that had once been removed from these objects.

For a live demonstration of the archive, follow this link.