Inspired by swahili poetry, dhow culture and the imagery of water for renaissance, Zingatia, take into consideration in kiswahili, is a visual essay reflecting on movements and transformations of built heritage, using Zanzibar’s Beit al-Ajaib (also known as the House of Wonders) as a case study.

The former ceremonial palace built in 1883 when the Sultanate of Oman ruled Zanzibar, now the Museum of History and Culture of Zanzibar and the Swahili Coast, is currently in a period of interim, closed to the public for several years, awaiting restoration. The work is a publishing experiment on how uncertainty could be a productive factor to document and discuss spaces through fictional narratives. The Indian Ocean is set as an alternative site of poetic wandering, where Beit al-Ajaib is a moving monument, withdrawn from its surroundings and dragged along the flow, representing a journey as an alternative to stagnation.