Derick Armah

Autograph Gallery + House of Dread

Echoes of our Memory

A live performance in London’s Autograph Gallery as House of Dread’s Researcher-in-Residence – an immersive sonic collage, created from field recordings, oral histories, ambient soundscapes, and other sources, exploring how sound operates as presence, erasure and resistance within archives. The event was produced with Nana Opoku in November 2025.

This responds to Autograph’s major group exhibition I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, which uses collage to ask how images can stand in for disputed – and often entangled – narratives when words fail. The exhibition features Arpita Akhanda, Brook Andrew, Jess Atieno, Wendimagegn Belete, Sim Chi Yin, Sunil Gupta, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Reena Saini Kallat, Henna Nadeem, Sheida Soleimani, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Thato Toeba and Qualeasha.

Following the performance, I engaged the sold-out audience in a period of reflection, providing space for visitors to share personal testimonies about the themes’ resonance, and to respond to pre-written provocations about sound as presence and erasure. I also shared insights into community care and the politics of listening in archival work, whilst answering questions about the piece’s creative process.

Visitors then had the opportunity to explore the exhibition and settle into an overflow room, curated with cassette tapes I’d pre-recorded with oral history excerpts and examples of my audio work: a spoken word poem and two sonic collages.

Since 1988, Autograph have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.

House of Dread is an anti-disciplinary heritage studio, founded by Dr Aleema Gray and committed to honouring what has been silenced or erased, while imagining new futures.

Photographed by Reynard d’Avoine.