HOLDING PATTERN

Holding Pattern is a research-led, socially engaged public art project led by transdisciplinary artist and APHIDS QUAD Member Sammaneh Pourshafighi.

The work explores how movement, memory, and identity intersect within systems that attempt to organize and contain them, specifically looking at institutional histories and personal archives. The title itself reflects a state of suspension—a space where movement continues but arrival is deferred. At its core, the project proposes that archives are inherently dynamic, incomplete, and continuously shaped by collective contribution, circulation, and reinterpretation.

Developed in dialogue with the Hume Civic Collection, local library spaces, and the broader Hume community, Holding Pattern bridges official institutional records with lived experiences of migration and transit. The Hume Civic Collection meticulously documents official, high-profile state visits and arrivals at Melbourne Airport, capturing staged moments of visibility for notable historic figures. However, everyday stories of arrival, displacement, and community migration remain outside these formal records. This project directly responds to that gap, activating archival material to bring missing, personal narratives into dialogue with official histories.

This project is supported by Hume City Council