Explored placelessness and temporality through coral stone, this work used a false coral wall and melting beeswax replicas to symbolize ecological loss and the fragility of human connection to land and sea.

Material Witnesses and Narrating Lifeforms examined placelessness and temporality through the lens of coral stone—a once-living material used historically in regions with material scarcity, such as the Gulf and coastal East Africa. Coral stone structures, particularly in places like Massawa, Eritrea, exemplified the architectural language of liminal spaces and ports. These buildings, constructed from petrified coral bonded with lime mortar, sand, or silt, carried the history of early settlements and maritime trade. However, their recreation or repair became nearly impossible without further ecological damage, as coral had become a material linked to loss.

In this project, coral was the "narrating lifeform," telling its story through its own demise and absence. The installation featured a false coral stone wall that supported a miniature arcade, or "acrature," using coral replicas made from locally sourced beeswax embedded within the wall. A stiff and undulating canopy of salt-encrusted, crystallized tulle or recycled scaffolding netting served as the structure’s roof. Exposed to external weather conditions and sunlight, the wax figures slowly melted over time, leaving behind delicate imprints in their absence. This was ruination by design—an accelerated decay to mark the immediacy and intimacy of our relationship to land and sea, to the living and breathing, salt and spectra.

About Miriam Hillawi Abraham:

Miriam Hillawi Abraham is a multi-disciplinary designer from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a background in architecture. Holding an MFA in Interaction Design from the California College of the Arts and a BArch from the Glasgow School of Art, she explores themes of equitable futurism and intersectionality through digital media and spatial design. Abraham has taught game coding at the Bay Area Video Coalition for over three years and is currently a Mellon researcher for the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Digital Now project. Her work has been showcased in notable exhibitions, including the 18th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, the MAK Museum, the 2nd Sharjah Architecture Triennial, and the 14th Shanghai Biennale.

Her research focuses on the politics of space and African-rooted technocultures. Rather than simply restoring incomplete histories, she develops experimental methods of speculative fiction and critical worldbuilding, extending interrupted timelines and creating new hybrids.