Forensic Architecture

I.109  A Cartography of Genocide: Israel's Conduct in Gaza since October 2023

Updated 08 Oct 2025
Date of Incident
07 Oct 2023 – Ongoing
Location
Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Legal Process, Web Platform
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Since October 2023, we have closely monitored Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the resulting extensive civilian harm. Comprehensive cartographic analysis, published as a web platform and in-depth report, reveals patterns of violence which indicate a systematic and organised campaign to destroy life, conditions necessary for life, and life-sustaining infrastructure.

I.115  The Environmental Continuum of Genocide in Namibia

Date of Incident
1884 – Ongoing
Location
Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA)
Summary
The disappearance of Namibia’s grasslands is not a natural occurrence but rather can be traced back to German settler colonial practices following their genocidal campaign against the Nama and Ovaherero in the early 20th c. FA/Forensis worked with descendants of survivors to digitally reconstruct their ancestral lands, quantify environmental degradation, and trace colonialism’s enduring impact.

I.111  The Massacre at Tur Al-Zagh: Al-Dawayima, 29 October 1948

Date of Incident
29 Oct 1948
Location
Al-Dawayima, Palestine
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
Palestine Land Society
Summary
In collaboration with Palestine Land Society and working first-hand with Palestinian survivors of the 1948 Nakba, FA has uncovered new evidence related to a major massacre carried out by Israeli forces on 29 Oct 1948 in the village of al-Dawayima.

Israel's Destruction of the Port of Gaza

Date
October 2023 – January 2024
Summary
Gaza’s historic port was repeatedly attacked and progressively destroyed by Israeli forces between October 2023 and January 2024, along with the majority of Palestinian fishing vessels docked within it. FA was commissioned to establish a timeline of visual evidence of the port’s destruction, including the destruction of two fishing vessels belonging to the Al-Hassi family.

I.110  The Evros/Meriç River: A Century of Border Design

Date of Incident
1926 – 2025
Location
Evros/Meriç river, Greece/Turkey
Forums
Web Platform
In Partnership With
Self-Initiated
Summary
First drawn a century ago, the border that separates Greece from Turkey along the Evros/Meriç river at the EU’s southeastern frontier is deadlier and more opaque than ever. FA/Forensis built an interactive platform that unpacks this complex and lethal border infrastructure, and examines the present-day condition of the border against the transformation of the river landscape over the past century.

I.107  German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: Swakopmund

Date of Incident
1904 – 1908
Location
Swakopmund, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA)
Summary
During their genocidal campaign against the indigenous Ovaherero and Nama, German colonial troops established concentration camps across today’s Namibia. The largest was in the port town of Swakopmund, a logistics hub built by forced labour. Working with local activists, we reconstructed the town as it was at that time, revealing the location of Swakopmund's concentration camp for the first time.

I.106  Chemical Fire at Marathon Refinery

Date of Incident
24 Aug 2023 – 28 Aug 2023
Location
Garyville, Louisiana, USA
Forums
Media, Web Platform
In Partnership With
The Guardian, Earthjustice, Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, The Descendants Project, Boundless Community Action
Summary
When a leaking petrochemical tank at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ caught fire, it produced a thick plume of toxic smoke that spread for miles over neighbouring communities. Authorities claimed that nearby residents were unaffected, even as reports of severe health impacts emerged. Fearing a cover-up, some of those residents asked FA to investigate.

I.102  German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: The Hornkranz Massacre

Date of Incident
12 April 1893
Location
Hornkranz, Khomas Region, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), Forensis
Summary
On 12 April 1893, German troops attacked the Nama settlement of ||Nâ‡gâs, also known as Hornkranz, located in present-day Namibia. This was the little-known first chapter in a genocidal campaign against the Nama and Ovaherero that culminated between 1904 and 1908. We worked with descendants to reconstruct the lost settlement and support Nama claims for access to and preservation of the site.

I.101  ‘No traces of life’: Israel’s Ecocide in Gaza 2023-2024

Date of Incident
07 Oct 2023 – Ongoing
Location
Gaza
Forums
Legal Process, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Since October 2023, the Israeli military has systematically targeted agricultural land and infrastructure in Gaza. Marking the occasion of Land Day in Palestine, our investigation reveals that the widespread destruction of orchards and greenhouses in Gaza is a deliberate act of ecocide that supports Israel’s genocidal campaign.

I.84  Gold Mining and Violence in the Amazon Rainforest

Date of Incident
2019 – Ongoing
Location
Yanomami Territory
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Climate Litigation Accelerator (CLX)
Summary
This investigation demonstrates how the Bolsonaro administration’s policies led directly to a rapid spread of destructive gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon and increasing violence against Indigenous communities.

I.80  The Shelling of Khudair Warehouse: Chemical Warfare by Indirect Means

Date of Incident
15 May 2021
Location
Gaza, Palestine
Forums
Legal Process, Media
In Partnership With
Al-Haq
Summary
Marking the launch of Al-Haq’s Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit based in Ramallah, we examined the circumstances of the 15 May 2021 Israeli bombing of the Khudair Pharmaceuticals and Agricultural Tools Company in Beit Lahiya—the largest agricultural chemical warehouse in Gaza—as part of the environmental disaster imposed on Palestinians.

I.7  The Forest Under Detection

Date
1492 – Ongoing
Summary
Using spatial, image, and data analysis, we investigate the history of the Colombian states' cartographic domination of the Nukak people in the department of Guaviare.

I.76  Dispossession and The Memory of the Earth: Land Dispossession in Nueva Colonia

Date of Incident
1960s to the present day
Location
Nueva Colonia, Urabá Antioqueño, Colombia
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Truth Commission, Web Platform
Commissioned By
The Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia
Summary
This investigation shows how the dispossession of campesino farmers in the Urabá Antioqueño region of Nueva Colonia was achieved by a combination of physical violence, environmental transformations and legal means.

I.72  Environmental Racism in Death Alley, Louisiana

Date of Incident
1718 – Ongoing
Location
'Death Alley', Louisiana, USA
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations, Exhibition, Media, Web Platform
In Partnership With
RISE St. James
Summary
A stretch of the Mississippi River once called 'Plantation Country' is now the 'Petrochemical Corridor', known to those who breathe its toxic air as 'Death Alley'. Using advanced techniques in cartography and fluid dynamics, we worked to support local demands for accountability and reparations.

I.67  Tear Gas in Plaza de la Dignidad

Date of Incident
20 Dec 2019
Location
Plaza de la Dignidad, Santiago de Chile
Forums
Media
Commissioned By
No+lacrimógenas
Summary
On 20 December 2019, the Chilean security forces used unprecedented quantities of tear gas within a relatively small area against people engaging in peaceful and unarmed protest. Using visual open source analysis and fluid dynamic simulation, we measured the concentration of tear gas in air and on the ground to estimate the scale of health risks posed on civilians on this day.

I.48  Oil and Gas Pollution in Vaca Muerta

Date of Incident
02 Jan 2013 – Ongoing
Location
Vaca Muerta, Argentina
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Guardian
Summary
Vaca Muerta is one of the world's largest fossil fuel resources. The 2013 arrival of the international oil and gas industry to the region has irreversibly changed its landscape, inflicting widespread environmental damage. We used satellite images and anthropological reports to investigate the industry's impact upon the traditional ways of life of the indigenous Mapuche people who live there.

I.45  Herbicidal Warfare in Gaza

Date of Incident
01 Jan 2014 – Ongoing
Location
Khan Younes, Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Exhibition, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Since 2014, Israeli military bulldozing of agricultural and residential lands along the eastern border of occupied Gaza has been complemented by unannounced aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides. Piecing together farmer testimonies, satellite imagery, and drift analysis, we investigated the unique destructive signature of a single spraying event in April 2017, along the border in Khan Younes.

I.26  Destruction and Return in al-Araqib

Date of Incident
01 Jan 2010 – Ongoing
Location
al-Araqib, Negev/Naqab desert
Forums
Legal Process, Exhibition
Commissioned By
The Village of al-Araqib
Summary
The Bedouin village of al-Araqib has been demolished over 120 times since 1954. Every time, the villagers return. Using aerial imagery and archaeological surveys, and in collaboration of local families, we provided evidence of ongoing inhabitation, against their dispossession by the Israeli state

I.25  Ecocide in Indonesia

Date of Incident
01 Jun 2015 – 01 Oct 2015
Location
Kalimantan and Sumatra, Indonesia
Forums
Exhibition
Commissioned By
FIBGAR - Fundación Internacional Baltasar Garzón
Summary
In Kalimantan and Sumatra, fires consumed over 21,000sq. km of forest and farmland in 2015. Combining fieldwork with satellite image analysis, we established that drainage and ‘monocropping’ by agricultural corporations were direct causes, supporting calls for recognition of a new crime: ecocide.

I.6  Genocide in the Ixil Triangle

Date of Incident
01 Jan 1978 – 01 Jan 1983
Location
Quiché, Guatemala
Forums
Legal Process, Web Platform
Commissioned By
CALDH – Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos
Summary
The genocide of the Ixil people was accompanied by widespread deforestation and environmental violence. We analysed and traced the state’s simple logic: control the Ixil through the destruction of the conditions on which their ways of life depended.