Erica Moukarzel (USA, 1993) is a cultural analyst with a special interest in cultural memory and narratives of displacement. She grew up in Beirut, where she worked various jobs in politics and the cultural field before starting a masters in Cultural Analysis in Amsterdam. Currently, she is applying for a PhD position at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, whilst also working part-time as the curatorial assistant at De Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. In her work, Erica investigates the relationship between history and memory, in particular cultural memory and how events are remembered. On a more personal level the Shock Forest Group provides a context to rethink and relearn the meanings of certain things. “In my native Lebanon, bullets are used for violent and triumphant purposes, but here at the Hembrug site they were tested. For what? The space does not seem to be traumatised, which is a surprise to me as bullets in Lebanon irrevocably imply a conflict. As an expat, things you think you know often gain new meanings. It’s a constant process of examining your own culture and noticing the different meanings of what used to be familiar.”