The exhibition Memories from the “Andana”: women, albums and forgotten heritage takes women as main characters for their perseverance in caring for and passing on the family heritage that shapes our collective memory.

The exhibition is divided into two parts, reflected on the two main walls of the room, which establish a mirror-like dialogue between them. The first is dedicated to the “Custodians of memory” and pays tribute to the women who have taken on the task of preserving the family's “treasures” that allow the building of bridges between different generations. Photographs, personal documents, letters, school notebooks, etc. are emblems of identity that have traditionally been preserved in trunks, envelopes or biscuit boxes turned into heritage containers.

This legacy acquires a special significance in the present, after the losses caused by the DANA on 29 October 2024, which explain the second axis of the exhibition. This second axis is based on the action of “Safeguarding our collective heritage” to highlight the active rescue work being carried out, mostly by women volunteers from the #Salvemlesfotografies laboratories located in Torrent, Algemesí, Utiel, Burjassot, Alfafar, Alaquàs and the municipal dryer in El Saler. There, an ethnographic project has been developed and, at the same time, both women who came to deposit their photo albums and the volunteers and technicians in charge of the intervention have been interviewed. The latter are represented in the four portraits on the transverse wall that connects the two previous threads.

Both initiatives have been driven by the Vice-Chancellor's Office for Culture and Society at the Universitat de València, and this exhibition combines photographs and fragments of interviews in which the literal discourse is maintained. Recognising the efforts of all these women is an act of empowerment and a way of constructing a more choral, fair and equitable historical narrative. From this perspective, private legacy becomes an essential collective heritage in this time of reconstruction, helping to unite our identity as a group and root us in the territory.