Archives

"The Canadian Typography Archives is dedicated to documenting and preserving typographic history – from every corner and community across Canada. It is a digital archive that includes artifacts (projects), articles, correspondence, processes, oral histories and other materials in the form of images, first-person accounts, videos and audio recordings." -- website About page. Phase 1 of the project has been led by Canadian type designer Rod McDonald, and the project launched in September 2023.

"For fifteen years, Vancouver-based artist Carol Sawyer (1982) has been conducting research and making artworks that enrich and expand the Natalie Brettschneider Archive. Carol Sawyer: The Natalie Brettschneider Archive presents the latest findings of this ongoing research project that deftly reconstructs the life and work of the genre-defying, fictional artist Natalie Brettschneider."

"'When we’re looking at these images,' Weems said, 'we’re looking at the ways in which Anglo America—white America—saw itself in relationship to the Black subject.' Among them are distressing pictures of enslaved African Americans taken by photographer Joseph T. Zealy in 1850. Commissioned by the Harvard scientist Louis Agassiz, they were meant to support racist theories about the inferiority of Black people. Many of the sitters are naked or half naked and depicted as anthropological specimens rather than individuals. The work is bookended by images of a royal Mangbetu woman witnessing the narrative. Through her presentation, Weems asks us to question the intentions behind these pictures and their dissemination. She enlarged, cropped, and tinted the images, then placed the prints in circular mattes that suggest the camera’s lens, emphasizing the acts of framing and looking. Finally, she overlaid the images with her own texts that expose a long history of systemic injustice. 'I wanted to intervene in that by giving a voice to a subject that historically has had no voice.'" - MoMA (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/45579)

CARTA is a collaborative project, spearheaded by the Internet Archive and the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC), that is aimed at capturing and preserving at-risk web-based art materials. CARTA is a collaborative entity of art libraries building collections of archived web-based content related to art history and contemporary art practice. Through this collaborative approach, the project leverages shared infrastructure, expertise and collecting activities amongst participating organizations, scaling the extent of web-published, born-digital materials preserved and accessible for art scholarship and research. ECU is a participating institution. The research portal provides access to all of the websites that have been crawled as part of the project, with new additions coming frequently.

"This website is a gateway for viewers around the world to search and browse items in CSPG's collection. At the moment it includes only a sample of CSPG’s growing collection of over 90,000 posters. Over 8,000 posters and prints are available to view online. New items are uploaded periodically, so please remember to visit this site again."

"Our project tells the story of Vancouver’s early Chinatown as chronicled through the lens of its first Chinese photographer: Yucho Chow. His work is a visual record of the many souls who passed through this historic neighbourhood: a place that welcomed and served everyone, no matter their skin colour or religion or ethnic background.
It took over eight years to gather just 200 of his photos. They were found one photo at a time – one family at a time. Most of the images had been hidden away for decades in family albums and boxes. Some were located in the files of private collectors. And a number of photos were discovered in institutional archives, although many of the images were not identified as having been created by Yucho Chow. His studio seal had long vanished from the photo. A few were found on EBay. "

"Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story is an archival research and oral history project that reflects on the collaborative performance work Coming Out of Chaos (1982) to unravel its influence and its place in the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver from the 1960s to the present day."

"The eighth volume in the ongoing CSP series edited by Hirsch and Miessen, The Proposal focuses on American artist Jill Magid's The Barragan Archives. Magid's multiyear project examining the career of Pritzker Prize winning architect Luis Barragan (1902-1988) questions the forms of power, public access and copyright used to construct artistic legacy. After his death, Barragan's archive was split in two. His personal archive went to his home in Mexico, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while his professional archive was purchased in 1995 by Vitra chairman Rolf Fehlbaum and housed at the corporation s headquarters, where it became inaccessible to the public. As Magid attempts to bring together Barragan's professional and personal archives and probes the architect s official and private selves, she engages the intersections of the psychological and the judicial, national identity and repatriation, international property rights and copyright law, authorship and ownership, the human body and the body of work. Eight additional essays round out Magrid s discussion. Contributions by Leonardo Diaz Borioli, Nikolaus Hirsch, David Kim, Cuauhtemoc Medina Gonzalez, Daniel McClean, Hesse McGraw, Elizabeth A. Povinelli and Ines Weizman"

"Whose Chinatown? Examining Chinatown Gazes in Art, Archives, and Collections, brings together an art history of Chinatowns and their communities by historical and contemporary Canadian artists such Emily Carr, Unity Bainbridge, Yucho Chow, Fred Herzog, Paul Wong, Mary Sui Yee Wong, Morris Lum, and aiya哎呀, among others. Drawing from private collections in Vancouver and across Canada, such as the Beatrice and Raymond Jai Collection, and the Chung Collection which holds more than 25000 rare items related to Chinese Canadian history assembled over 60 years and is now housed at UBC, the show will also be augmented with public archives and collections. Complementing the artworks, artefacts, and archival materials is a robust public programming. This exhibition aims to question how narratives are constructed around the idea of Chinatown and the colonial notions that underwrite some of these relations."

"A Lebanese Archive is based on a collection of archival photographs from Lebanon and the Middle East which came into the hands of Ania Dabrowska in 2010 when she was a SPACE artist-in-residence at Arlington hostel in Camden, London. It belongs to Diab Alkarssifi, a Lebanese emigre who was living there at the time. The images were taken and collected by Alkarssifi over a lifetime. It was a chance encounter that gave birth to the archiving of a huge collection, and the developmen of a new body of work by Dabrowska - much of which is published here for the first time. The collection also includes albums and archives of other photographers."

Summary: "[...] Nguyễn initiated The Making of an Archive, a project that seeks to collect images of everyday life photographed by migrants, particularly of people of colour, in a direct, collective and exploratory approach. One of the salient themes of the work is how to make visible the rich histories of activism and solidarity that complicate the pervasive myth of the agreeable “model minority.” The publication The Making of an Archive serves as a critical document of Nguyễn’s research and the project’s relevance to larger conversations around Canadian vernacular photography by people of colour, the role of the artist-initiated archive, and how an expansion of the archival record relates to political and social change."--Publisher's website.

"Luis Barragan is among the world's most celebrated architects of the twentieth century. Upon his death in 1988, much of his work was locked away in a Swiss bunker, hidden from the world's view. In an attempt to resurrect Barragan's life and art, boundary redefining artist Jill Magid creates a daring proposition that becomes a fascinating artwork in itself. A high-wire act of negotiation that explores how far an artist will go to democratize access to art."

""Tape Condition: degraded is an immersive installation and community digitization station that engages with The ArQuives’s collection of more than 3,000 VHS tapes, about one-third of which are porn. From commercially produced movies, to homemade tapes and hand-dubbed compilations, these cassettes are vital records of the archives’ role in preserving and protecting queer desires, sexual subcultures, and the pleasures of collecting. As VHS tapes age and degrade, what kinds of digital strategies might bring the histories they record into the present? How might digital interventions broaden, diversify, or queer the kinds of bodies, pleasures, and identities the archives collects?
Throughout the summer, a working digital transfer station will be situated in an immersive installation designed to evoke The ArQuives of the 1980’s—the heyday of both VHS and Canadian police censorship of queer porn. Hidden behind a “false wall” that references the archives’ attempts to protect the porn collection from police raids in the 1980s, this station will be staffed by a technician and available for community-use on select days throughout the summer. New video work by Aidan Cowling titled Landscapes of Infinities will screen on a loop within the installation."
A publication with essay, drawings by Hazel Meyer, comic by Morgan Sea, and “Dream Tape” archival interventions written by 11 queer and trans artists and activists available online and in print. Publication Designed by Cecilia BerKovic. Dream Tape Contributors: Anthea Black, Derek McCormack, Ginger Brooks Takahashi, Guillermina Buzio, jes sachse, Jessica Karuhanga, Kiley May, Morgan M Page, Nica Ross, Nick Matte, Syrus Marcus Ware."

"This oversized wall collage presents a snapshot of the photographs and files housed at the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) archives in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1982 by long-time community activists Dorothy Laigo Cordova and Fred Cordova, FANHS is a treasure-trove for primary research on Filipino Americans as told through oral history, family photos, personal documents, and community records. As an artist, I rephotographed the physical space of the archive and its contents, reprinting them in an attempt to simulate its material volume. Oversized images overlap, connect, and float on the surface, creating a layered and profoundly personal collection that showcases everything from local labor activism to cultural events and intimate celebrations. A series of videos embedded in the work explores just some of the file folders and albums and shows my hands sifting, turning over, and holding photographs up to the camera so the audience can view them with care. As an artist who has spent years researching in American institutional archives and attempting to dismantle and critique the ways in which Filipinos, Filipino Americans, and Filipinx are presented through the lens of being colonial subjects, it was profoundly moving to encounter the labor of love that is the FANHS photo archive. At 92 years old, Dorothy Cordova — or “Auntie Dorothy” as she is affectionately called by her community — still tends to it in order to ensure that current and future generations can access and understand their history through their own images. My artwork centers the FANHS archive as a necessary antidote to the colonial archive, a site of Filipino American history intertwined with American history across generations." - Stephanie Syjuco website

"The transformation of everyday and urban detritus is one of Theaster Gates' fundamental artistic strategies, one lending it to a new value as art. The partly newly created works and space-grabbing sculptures also following this attitude. Gates' work as a strategy of archiving and recycling, preservation and innovation as a form of critical analysis of social issues are analyzed by Romi Crawford and Thomas D. Trummer. In a conversation with Hamza Walker, Gates himself explains his work and, in particular, his artistic concept underlying the exhibition in Bregenz. The exhibition 'Black Archive' is impressively documented by large format installation images."--Publisher's website.

"Recollective: Vancouver Independent Archives Week is as a series of free public events, panels, conversations, and screenings that highlight artist-run centre archives, artists working with archives, and the intersections between contemporary art practices and social movements in Vancouver. In its 2019-2021 programming years, Recollective looks beyond Vancouver to host a series of national and international presenters and respondents to examine these issues in a range of global contexts."

"The Atlas Group is a fictional nonprofit research organization Raad founded in 1999. It presents itself to the public as a real collective with a mission to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon, in particular the civil wars between 1975 and 1991. In the guise of The Atlas Group, Raad collects and fabricates photographs, videotapes, notebooks, and films and presents them in exhibitions, video screenings, and lectures. This work assembles one hundred photographs of car engines taken by amateur and professional photographers. During the civil wars, approximately 245 car bombs exploded in Lebanon, detonated by groups across the political and religious spectrums. The only part of the car that remained intact after the blast was the engine, and newspaper reports of car bombs consistently included photographs of engines and the police officers, politicians, and onlookers who gathered in the aftermath of the explosion. Raad compiled the photographs from newspaper archives in Lebanon, scanned their fronts and backs, and printed them with the date of the explosion, the name of the photographer (when known), and an English translation of the notations on the backs of the pictures. From a complex political issue he has extracted and clarified one aspect: the photo opportunity. This is just one lens through which Raad examines the ways in which the economic, political, and social history of Lebanon has been recorded, recalled, and understood." - MoMA

"Essays and photographs that document the anti-Asian riots of 1907 in the context of contemporary anti-Asian sentiment. White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver explores the conditions leading up to and the impact of a demonstration and parade in Vancouver, Canada, organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League and the ensuing mob attack on the city's Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities. Emblematic of a systemically racist era, White Riot reveals the social and political environment of the time, when racialized communities were targeted through legislated as well as physical acts of exclusion and violence. Based on 360 Riot Walk, a 360-degree video walking tour by artist and author Henry Tsang, White Riot offers an intersectional approach to this pivotal moment in the history of racialized communities and a cultural and social context for understanding for the current wave of anti-Asian sentiment. It features photographs of the riots colourized by Tsang as well as those of contemporary Vancouver where the riots took place. Essays by Tsang and others speak to the colonial times that preceded and followed the 1907 riots, as well as issues that Chinese and Japanese communities (and other racialized communities) in North America are facing today. White Riot poses the question: in the current ethos of anti-racism and decolonization, what does it take to reconcile our collective histories within the legacy of white supremacy? Includes essays by the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance, Paul Englesberg, Melody Ma, Angela May and Nicole Yakashiro, Jeffery R. Masuda, Aaron Franks, Audrey Kobayashi and Trevor Wideman, and Andy Yan, with an introduction by Patricia E. Roy."-- Provided by publisher.

"XFR Collective partners with artists, activists, and community organizations to lower the barriers to preserving at-risk audiovisual media – especially unseen, unheard, or marginalized works – through digitization, screenings, educational workshops, and pop-up events. Operating through a non-hierarchical model, we work to create an inclusive environment in which to explore practical methods for media preservation, archiving, and access."

"A collective of trained Black archivists who prioritize Black cultural heritage preservation and memory work."

"Documenting the Now develops tools and builds community practices that support the ethical collection, use, and preservation of social media content. "

"WITNESS trains activists to archive and preserve their video so that human rights abuses cannot be denied or forgotten over time."

"The Texas After Violence Project is a community-based archive and documentary project cultivating deeper understandings of the impacts of state-sanctioned violence on individuals, families, and communities. Our mission is to conduct responsible, inclusive, and ethical research, and to build an archive of stories and other materials that shift narrative power to marginalized and oppressed communities and promote restorative and transformative justice. "

"Project STAND is a radical grassroots archival consortia project between colleges and universities around the country; to create a centralized digital space highlighting analog and digital collections emphasizing student activism in marginalized communities." Project Stand has published an Archiving Student Activism toolkit that can be freely downloaded.

"A People’s Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland collects, preserves, and shares the stories, memories, and accounts of police violence as experienced or observed by Cleveland citizens. Organized in Summer 2015 by Cleveland residents and professional archivists from across the U.S., the archive hopes to provide the Cleveland community--especially survivors of police violence and the families of victims-- a safe and secure space to share any testimony, documents, or accounts that narrate or reflect on encounters or effects of police violence in their lives and communities."

In 2019, the Oral History Association’s Council commissioned a Social Justice Task Force (SJTF) to develop a document of practice, which better serves vulnerable communities and assists practitioners seeking to center the narrator utilizing ethical and procedural standards. These guidelines will add to the organization’s Principles and Best Practices suite. This report, sample templates, and glossary serve as a framework to clarify the meaning of social-justice-centered oral history and its practice from start to finish.

"This project originated as a ‘Beyond Black History Month’ research project proposed by the Emily Carr University Library, focusing on anti racism initiatives and activities within the institution. In this position, I was asked to ‘perform research and design activities related to promoting and critiquing library collections through the lens of social justice.’ I proposed a focus on the institution’s colonial and racist history paralleled with student activism and highlighting our students of colour, in addition to spotlighting the Black creators that have graduated Emily Carr. [...] I approached this as a storytelling piece with the goal of presenting/sharing/bringing to light specific elements of the history of ECU and stories of student activism, with a particular focus on the activism since the Black Lives Matter Movement sparked social justice movements across the world. My storytelling is informed by the research I did in the university archives, interviews I conducted with alumni, and my own experiences in student activism movements." -- Liliana Martinez Castro's Introduction to "To Change We Must Reflect."