“Tell Me in Matarraña”: a youth project bringing local memory back to life

The project “Tell Me in Matarraña”, led by 4th-year secondary school students from IES Matarraña in Valderrobres, has been selected in the second call of the Gloria Villalba Awards. The initiative is already underway and proposes an innovative and inspiring way to connect the past and the future of the Matarraña region.

Imagine an old photograph of your grandparents. A black-and-white image, marked by the passage of time. Now imagine that photo coming to life: colour returning to the faces, expressions moving slightly, and the stories it holds being told once again. That is the essence of “Tell Me in Matarraña.”

Using artificial intelligence tools, students will restore, colourise and add subtle movement to old family photographs. But the project goes far beyond technology: each image becomes an opportunity to talk with older people, identify the individuals and places that appear in the pictures, and reconstruct fragments of the history of the villages of Matarraña.

In this way, the students become true guardians of memory, responsible for recovering and preserving memories that form part of the cultural heritage of their region.

A journey into the past with clear goals

The main aim of the initiative is to strengthen the connection between generations, involving young people in the preservation of collective memory. To achieve this, the project is structured around four strategic objectives:

• Cultural: to recover, restore and share family photographs from the 20th century in order to create a living archive of Matarraña’s memory.

• Educational: to develop students’ digital skills, historical research abilities and teamwork, while strengthening their connection with their local environment.

• Social: to promote intergenerational encounters between young people and older residents through dialogue around the recovered stories.

• Technological: to explore the ethical and creative use of artificial intelligence as a tool to revitalise local cultural heritage.

An exhibition travelling across the region

The result of this work will be a travelling exhibition that will visit different villages across Matarraña. It will showcase the restored and animated photographs together with the stories behind them.

The exhibition will allow many older residents to relive memories and recognise faces and places from their youth, while young people will have the opportunity to discover the history of their community in a direct and meaningful way.

Beyond its immediate outcomes, the project aspires to become a model for revitalising rural heritage, demonstrating that the most advanced technology can serve a deeply human purpose: preserving our collective memory.

“Tell Me in Matarraña” is not just a photo archive. It is a journey through time—a story told by those who lived it and revived by those who will inherit it. A reminder that, sometimes, to keep our memories alive, all we need is to look at them with new eyes… and a little bit of AI magic.