Art.
Archives.
Community.
Documentation from The Edenic Zone, an immersive outdoor experience manifesting a portal of rest and beauty as imagined by Zona Baari in collaboration with Casa de Coco.
One person would have a hard time trying to save the world, but they can offer a shift in vibration within the micro to positively affect the macro. My belief is there exists many realities on this planet and ultimately varying frequencies we may step in and out of.
Bone – as what is beneath the surface of self. Exists in us all, and what’s behind the mask of skin. The great equalizer. A physical resemblance of our own undeniable truth and vulnerability.
Through the process of collecting these pieces, I noticed myself tapping back into familial practices to take care of oneself. These acts were so deeply embedded into everyday life that I did not question it or even acknowledge it as a practice.
How to Turn Poison Into a Meal is the name of my Fall/Winter 2020 collection. This project is a way for me to celebrate and remember, as well as using my body as an archive, creating documentation of my ancestors and their practices of reveling in joy and resilience from a heavy existence.
As an educator who was radicalized by Black feminist and womanist literature, I have always been clear that that was my goal for SISTORIES--to provide the grounds for Black women and nonbinary femmes to adopt a politic to address the root cause of the social issues that cause them harm by seeing and writing themselves into the historical narrative of Black femmehood.
Memorial for Queer Rhyolite, a temporary monument to dreams in the dust is a public work originally installed for the inaugural Bullfrog Biennial at the Goldwell Open Air Museum in October 2019. The piece memorializes a 1980s dream to establish “Stonewall Park,” a gay utopian effort aimed for Rhyolite, NV, a piece of deserted mining country that lies between Death Valley National Park and the Nevada Test Site.
Latinx customs, rituals and traditions have withstood countless transformations through their assimilation to the US and back, and the undocumented history of quinceañera practice–a journey I hold quite close to me–is still just one of the many deprived of proper accreditation.
Developing strong, meaningful, relationships between artists and archivists has so much potential to be fruitful for both fields. Interestingly, both art and archives have been historically undervalued in academia: artistic practice as a vehicle only for expression or reflection of issues, requiring translation by a critic or art historian to make sense of its real value (4), and archivists as “handmaidens of historians,” seen as passive intermediaries between records and the historians who interpret them (5)
Research is a solitary practice, but a research fellowship can be a tool for community-building, and the relationships between artists and archival materials can help upend and reshape our sense of history. Special Collections at the Providence Public Library (PPL) in Providence, Rhode Island offers an annual, 6-8 month Creative Fellowship for an artist to do intensive archival research and create new work, along with an interactive public program.
Thread Library, an artwork I made for the Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) in February 2020, suggests that information is always mediated by the tactile, tangible, material, and personal. Simply put, Thread Library is a collection of thread with a card catalog, and each thread is cataloged as if it were a book.
From footage of hollering contests to oral histories of civil rights activists, Folkstreams.net is one of the most dynamic collections of independent films on the internet, containing over 100 documentaries, biopics, and performances available for free, alongside enrichment guides, transcripts, and an easily accessible list of rights information.
”As my family migrated and many others from the Diaspora did too, the camera was a way to document this broken American Dream narrative, instead, we needed to create a counter-narrative of our people, because we are not seen as American.”
The absence and resistance of historical context surrounding an object is an intriguing instance of sorts. Being a student of critical craft theory, my passion and research is Afro American craft history and material culture. This, combined with having a true admiration for antiquing, I have arrived at the dilemma I present to you now.
Being an Appalachian woman, artist, and herbalist, I am committed to honoring the women in my community. The women in this series have an intimate connection to the land and a beautiful and poetic way of communicating through plants and herbal medicine.
...Voices in Collective Thought presents some of the events and popular reactions lived throughout the October 20th electoral fraud and current crisis in Bolivia. Last November, after a thirteen year long presidency and a scandalous attempt at fraud, Evo Morales stepped down from presidency.
Queer Collections is a series of interviews and photographs exploring the eccentric and carefully-curated manners of collecting within self-identified queer communities. Zoe Rosenblum and Tristan Crane, alongside the collectors themselves, explore how the objects we hold dear inform our construction of identity and belonging—our vulnerabilities and anxieties, our joys and fantasies.
Cryptozoology is part of fringe science or pseudoscience along with ufology, numerology, transcendental meditation, electrogravitics, and more. These include different communities that often seem to be fun, harmless, and open-minded, but can be quite misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, racist, and sexist.
Engaging Collections is a creative residency and publication at the intersections of art + equity with libraries, archives, and special collections.
Our residency invites artists to collaborate with North Carolina-based libraries, archives, and special collections to amplify untold narratives living in these collections.
“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.”
bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
the Journal:
Acting as a repository for artworks and resources supporting the cross-disciplinary work being done at the intersections of art + equity with libraries, archives, and special collections, the EC Journal ties together collections of these threads - from poets, artists, performers, researchers, readers, and creatives of all types.
We publish pieces that examine the intersection of art with libraries, archives and special collections through an equity lens alongside resources, links to interesting digital collections, and other content
We are interested in artworks, scholarly essays, blog posts, book reviews, poetry, infographics, and visual essays, which address underrepresented histories, non-dominant narratives, and community-based legacies. Are you interested in submitting a contribution to the Journal? We’re open to bold ideas and unexpected perspectives.
the Residency:
Artists based in North Carolina who …
Identify as emerging or early-career
Experience geographic or socio-economic barriers
Are without traditional points of entry such as gallery representation
Are LGBTQIA2S+, BIPOC, Queer, Non-binary, or identify as part of a historically underrepresented, marginalized or oppressed community
are invited to apply to our residency program.
The Artists in Residence (AiRs) will be facilitated by Engaging Collections through mentorship, digital collections research assistance, programming support, and other aspects of their initiatives to produce public artworks in collaboration with a regional archive, library, or special collection of their choice.