First presented as a filmed performance, Trauma Then, Trauma Now was extended into a participatory research process at The Royal Standard, Liverpool, as part of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival 2021.

The exhibition brought the original work into a gallery setting alongside a workshop inviting participants to contribute to its ongoing development. Beginning with a screening and an introduction to the research, the session opened a collective inquiry into the embodied and transgenerational dimensions of trauma, drawing connections between the Algerian Civil War and participants' own experiences, identities and cultural contexts.

Through drawing, sensory experimentation, embodied reflection and associative responses to sound, participants explored how traumatic memory might be perceived, located and communicated beyond conventional narrative. The resulting drawings, written fragments and visual associations were assembled into a collective installation, incorporating participants' contributions into the exhibition itself.

The workshop extended the project's methodology from individual performance into collective artistic inquiry. By questioning the distinction between artist and audience, it introduced multiple perspectives into the development of the work, positioning participation not simply as engagement but as an integral part of the research process.