The SIM Project: Memories In Motion

Craft, connection and movement

The SIM Project takes inspiration from the smartphone SIM card, a tiny tool carrying vast networks of connection and personal meaning.

In workshops, people are invited to craft miniature “messages to the future” using a bespoke analogue camera and mobile darkroom, creating photographic pendants to keep, carry, and pass on.

This grassroots archive of SIM-scale artworks has grown through local workshops in eight countries, connecting people beyond labels and borders—from Cyprus to Morocco, the USA to the UK.

The SIM Project has been exhibited at the V&A London, the Houston Center for Photography, and selected for the King’s College London pavilion at the 2025 London Design Biennale.

‘As an immigrant, I don’t really have roots, I have tendrils, which stretch to different places in the world where there are people I love’
Teacher, Argentina and Cyprus, 2022

Create and Contribute

Order your personalised SIM pendant —or dive in, join a workshop, and make your own.

Your support fuels our education and exhibition work.

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The Story

The project was inspired by a collection of ancient keys in Coventry, a city of Sanctuary.

SIM cards act as tiny “keys” unlocking our smartphone “suitcases,” opening windows to loved ones, memories, and the digital archives that let us carry a sense of home wherever we go.

See the first chapter of the project here.

‘A person in any country begins their relationship, adventures, and acquires an identity, temporary or long, when they put the SIM card of that country in their phone.’

Engineer, Syria and UK, 2017