ABOUT

BUILD YOUR ARCHIVE

BUILD YOUR ARCHIVE is a movement, a praxis, a commitment.

An ecosystem of nomadic memory work labs where Black Women Artists, Organizers and Cultural Workers and their communities build their archives in real time. Inspired by the embodiment and care practices of bell hooks, tina campt, toni morrison and octavia butler, we believe that archiving is a self-defined praxis of intentional choices and ritual led record-keeping. 

Existing between a continuum of all of the grandmothers living rooms and grandfathers basements, we learn and study archival practices within an ethos of radical care, liberation and world building.

We further imagine a world where their narratives, whole or fragmented, are accessible to those who prioritize protection.

in real time.

We utilize photography, video, written and oral history to document the framework and make it accessible to future audiences.

Throughout the process, we are implementing “archiving in real time” through a Black feminist lens as a methodology to ensure that all perspectives and narratives involved are preserved. 


PARTNER WITH US.

Upcoming events.

Our Services

We design participatory workshops, artistic experiences, productions, durational programming and exhibitions in collaboration with individual artists, academic institutions, organizations and personal estates.

  • ARCHIVAL WORKSHOPS

    Personal archiving workshop series grounded in Black Feminist Teachings + Research for all Black people in pursuit of protecting their history.

  • ARTISTIC PRODUCTIONS

  • DURATIONAL PROGRAMMING

    These durational and collaborative activations are strategically designed as a pathway to reclaim of one’s humanity. Utilizing call and response, memic devices, colloquialisms, southern oral history and traditions, it aims to translate the liberation process into cultural experiences through archival research, lens based installation, sound and music, poetry and reading, and writing and correspondence.