Collected Histories: Personal Archives and Documentation

Collected Histories, a project co-founded by Hind Mezaina and Jasmine Soliman, aims to foster discussion on personal documentation and archiving “with an ultimate goal of inspiring and supporting individuals to become ‘citizen archivists’ by cataloguing, and exploring ways to self-publish and preserve personal collections”. The project includes talks, workshops, and public film screenings – which this evening includes all three.

Films

Four short films focused on archives, memories, and identity followed by a short discussion between Mezaina, Soliman and the audience.

Between Delicate and Violent dir Şirin Bahar Demirel (2023, 15 min) Experimental documentary that considers hands as memory places that can both accumulate and transfer memories – what some artists call “hand memory,” triggered when they begin painting, sculpting, or drawing and retained in the body rather than the brain …

My Father dir Pegah Ahangarani Farahanilran (2023, 19 min) A personal essay from the director, examining the life of her father as a revolutionary filmmaker and activist in Iran and the impact of the execution of his friend Davood …

At Home But Not At Home dir Suneil Sanzgiri (2019, 11 min) An experimental essay about anti-colonial solidarity, based on the story of the director’s father and his Goan heritage to question the construction of artifice, memory, and identity through the moving image.

Rankin Street, 1953 dir Naeem Mohaieman (2013, 8 min) Mohaiemen’s projects all revolve around modern history, with a particular focus on South Asia and the 1970s. Merging personal and national histories, Mohaiemen explores the gaps in historical memory.

Workshop

The workshop will explore the importance of archival self-representation, the objects we keep and why.  Attendees should bring at least one item from their personal archive – family photos, letters, diaries, heirlooms. This event is open to all, and no prior knowledge about archival practice is required.