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OPEN UP THE ARCHIVES: ON INCARCERATION
1 September 2017–ongoing
Supported by the Marty Memorial Fellowship, Queen's University
What are the unheard histories of Katarokwi/Kingston's prisons?
Where are the stories from those with lived realities within these carceral sites?
How can a different practice and ethics of witnessing allow for a re-storying of incarceration that shifts away form the spectacle of dark tourism?
open up the archives: on incarceration invites contributions from anyone and everyone who has connections to Katarokwi/Kingston's prisons—with those who are currently or previously incarcerated prioritized—who want to have their stories shared, songs sung, histories told, poetry read and voices heard. This material will be developed directly into a living, breathing, growing archival space—both digitally and physically.
By not only digging through archival materials from national, provincial and local collections, but also making accessible forgotten, neglected or personal narratives and ephemera, open up the archives will preserve a collection of surviving stories while placing the lived realities of incarceration at the forefront. The project places emphasis on documenting and presenting community-led and first-hand experiences of those most closely connected to incarceration as an archival process of remembering, re-storying and healing. Also imperative to this project is making note of what to leave behind: what acts of remembering are purely moments of spectacularizing pain? What do we do with these narratives? How do we take them up critically and not further disseminate them? Ultimately, open up the archives: on incarceration is centred in a process of archiving that demonstrates a fierce optimism and commitment to survival while presenting a stubborn challenge to the institutional boundaries of "the archive."
1 September 2017–ongoing
Supported by the Marty Memorial Fellowship, Queen's University
What are the unheard histories of Katarokwi/Kingston's prisons?
Where are the stories from those with lived realities within these carceral sites?
How can a different practice and ethics of witnessing allow for a re-storying of incarceration that shifts away form the spectacle of dark tourism?
open up the archives: on incarceration invites contributions from anyone and everyone who has connections to Katarokwi/Kingston's prisons—with those who are currently or previously incarcerated prioritized—who want to have their stories shared, songs sung, histories told, poetry read and voices heard. This material will be developed directly into a living, breathing, growing archival space—both digitally and physically.
By not only digging through archival materials from national, provincial and local collections, but also making accessible forgotten, neglected or personal narratives and ephemera, open up the archives will preserve a collection of surviving stories while placing the lived realities of incarceration at the forefront. The project places emphasis on documenting and presenting community-led and first-hand experiences of those most closely connected to incarceration as an archival process of remembering, re-storying and healing. Also imperative to this project is making note of what to leave behind: what acts of remembering are purely moments of spectacularizing pain? What do we do with these narratives? How do we take them up critically and not further disseminate them? Ultimately, open up the archives: on incarceration is centred in a process of archiving that demonstrates a fierce optimism and commitment to survival while presenting a stubborn challenge to the institutional boundaries of "the archive."