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.113  Return to al-Ma'in

Date of Incident
14 May 1948 – Ongoing
Location
Al-Ma'in, Palestine
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
Palestine Land Society
Summary
With Palestinian historian and Nakba survivor Salman Abu Sitta, we reconstructed his birthplace, the village of al-Ma’in, to explore the story of its occupation and demolition by Zionist forces on 14 May 1948, and the settlements constructed on its ruins. Through al-Ma'in, we can view the continuation of the Nakba of 1948 through to the genocide of 2023.

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.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.105  German Colonial Genocide in Namibia: Shark Island

Date of Incident
1905 – 1908
Location
Lüderitz, ǃNamiǂNûs, ǁKharas region, Namibia
Forums
Exhibition, Human Rights Report, Media
In Partnership With
Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA)
Summary
During their genocidal campaign against the Ovaherero and Nama between 1904 and 1908, German colonial troops established five concentration camps across German Southwest Africa. Shark Island, also known as ‘Death Island’, was the most notorious. FA and Forensis worked with descendants of the camp’s victims and survivors to reconstruct this space of trauma, which today faces new threats of erasure.

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.94  Executions and Mass Graves in Tantura, 23 May 1948

Date of Incident
22 May 1948
Location
Tantura, Palestine
Forums
Legal Process, Media
Commissioned By
Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights
Summary
Our investigation reveals new evidence about massacres conducted in the Palestinian village of Tantura by Israeli forces after its occupation on 22-23 May 1948 and subsequent depopulation. Launched on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, it brings together testimonies and photographic evidence to locate several mass graves in which the victims were buried—including one previously unidentified.

I.93  The Nebelivka Hypothesis

Date of Incident
3500 BC – Ongoing
Location
Nebelivka, Ukraine
Forums
Exhibition
In Partnership With
David Wengrow
Summary
In partnership with David Wengrow, this project combines archaeological science with the tools of Forensic Architecture to examine the 6,000-year-old remains of the city of Nebelivka. By reading the soil as an archaeological artefact in its own right, a lost tradition of urban life is unearthed, offering a lens through which to interrogate core assumptions about urban space, power, and ecology.

SP.88  Restituting Evidence: Genocide and Reparations in German Colonial Namibia · Supported Project ↗

Date of Incident
1904 – 1908
Location
Otjozondjupa, Omaheke, and Khomas, Namibia
Forums
Media
In Partnership With
The Ovaherero/Ovambanderu Genocide Foundation (OGF), Forensis
Summary
From 1904–1908, Germany committed genocide against the Herero, Mbanderu and Nama peoples in their colony of ‘South-West Africa’ (present-day Namibia). FA/Forensis partnered with genocide activists from descendant communities to begin to produce a body of digital evidence that can be leveraged in support of demands for land restitution and reparations.

I.82  Russian Strike on the Kyiv TV Tower

Date of Incident
01 Mar 2022
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
Forums
Exhibition, Media
In Partnership With
The Center for Spatial Technologies (CST)
Summary
The Russian strike on the Kyiv TV tower and the site of Babyn Yar on 1 March 2022 resulted in civilian casualties and urban destruction—but it also pierced through layers of historical strata, exposing a history of violence, genocide and negation that unfolded on the very same ground. This is the first installation in a new long-term collaboration with the Center for Spatial Technologies.

I.79  Living Archaeology in Gaza

Date of Incident
7th Century BCE – Ongoing
Location
Gaza
Forums
Legal Process, United Nations, Human Rights Report, Media
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Decades of bombings and humanitarian disaster inflicted by the Israeli occupation have posed a constant threat not only to Palestinian lives but also to their cultural heritage. FA has conducted the first open-source excavation of this remarkable archaeological site along Gaza’s coastline, illustrating the myriad risks it faces.

I.44  Conquer and Divide

Date of Incident
01 Jan 1967 – Ongoing
Location
Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Web Platform
In Partnership With
B’Tselem
Summary
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the five decades that followed, the state of Israel has chipped away at Palestinian space through legislative, legal, and military means, restricting the freedoms of Palestinian civilians, and denying them their rights. In partnership with B'Tselem, we told that story through an interactive, scrolling cartography.

I.35  The Destruction of Yazidi Cultural Heritage

Date of Incident
03 Aug 2014 – 13 Nov 2015
Location
Sinjar, Iraq
Forums
Legal Process, Citizens' Tribunal, Exhibition, Web Platform
In Partnership With
Yazda: Global Yazidi Organization
Summary
In August 2014, ISIL invaded the Sinjar, northern Iraq, home of the Yazidi religious minority. Thousands were enslaved, executed or displaced, and religious buildings were torn down. We trained Yazda researchers in our techniques, and worked together to document the physical traces of genocide.

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.1  Stopping the Wall in Battir

Date of Incident
01 Jan 2012 – 01 Jan 2015
Location
Battir, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Forums
Legal Process
Commissioned By
Michael Sfard Law Office
Summary
Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank threatened to destroy historic Palestinian farmland. We supported human rights lawyers to build a pioneering—and successful—legal argument on environmental and heritage grounds.

I.5  Living Death Camp: the archaeology of Staro Sajmište

Date of Incident
01 Jan 1938 – Ongoing
Location
Belgrade, Serbia
Forums
Citizens' Tribunal, Exhibition
Commissioned By
Self-Initiated
Summary
Staro Sajmište, once the site of a ‘world’s fair’, became a Nazi concentration camp. The Roma community that later lived there—including descendents of the camp’s victims—is threatened by plans to build a Holocaust memorial at the site. We surveyed the site to support their efforts to remain.