a transmedia, time-traveling ethnography tracing 500 years of one family to reveal what we inherit beyond DNA.
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Using archival research, poetic narration, lived experience and digital tools, Project: NOK maps personal stories onto the wider story of Britain.
This is not a history project.
A Living Archive of Ordinary Lives:
Project NOK recovers marginalised histories — especially those of women, working-class families and foundlings. Our goal is to build the UK’s first contextual genealogy platform: where anyone can explore how laws, beliefs and social systems shaped their ancestors’ lives.
Project: NOK - Who is it for?
- People exploring their ancestry
- Those disconnected from their roots
- Social historians & genealogists
- Researchers in trauma & epigenetics
- Community archivists
- Students and history enthusiasts
- Artists working with memory
WHAT WE'RE BUILDING:
· Phase 1: The (First) Film:
A hybrid documentary exploring the lives of Marjory Burr and Brenda Butler — two working-class women shaped by war, poverty and fierce resilience.
· Phase 2: The Digital Archive: (TIME MACHINE)
A public platform mapping individual lives against major historical events using relational databases and digital humanities methods.
· Phase 3: Public Engagement
Workshops, screenings, educational materials, a hybrid documentary series and community archives to make history accessible to all.
This is our story to reclaim
At its heart, this project is about bringing light to what was buried—so that something new can grow. The tone is grounded and mythic, personal and universal. It invites audiences to reflect on where they come from and what they carry—not with judgement, but with compassion and curiosity.
Why This Matters Now:
We live in the echo of systems that shaped our ancestors’ lives — Poor Laws, exploitation and class hierarchy.
These forces left traces in our family stories, our relationships, our unspoken longings. Project: Next of Kin is an act of reclamation: a way to understand the weaving of our histories, release inherited patterns and honour those whose lives were left unrecorded.