Becoming Archived: Lesbian Snapshot Collective

About this event

Bring a personal photo, share its story and explore lesbian memory, history and visibility while helping shape a living archive. …[G]ive us a visual record of our passages…a mosaic of lesbian strength, of our strivings to remake our outer and inner worlds. —Joan Nestle The Lesbian Snapshot Collective (LSC) knows that everyday snapshots – personal images that might otherwise remain unseen – belong in the museum alongside fine-art photography. Archives have often excluded lesbian lives or represented them on someone else’s terms. Becoming Archived asks how our photographs and stories might enter the record on our own terms. Each participant decides what to share and whether anything is retained beyond the workshop. In this friendly, creative two-hour workshop , we will explore what our photographs show, what lies beyond the frame and what we remember beyond the image. Share as much or as little as feels right and listen to the similarities and differences in one another’s stories. You are invited to bring a personal snapshot of yourself, share its story with the group, and reflect on what it means to archive lesbian life now . Scanners, index cards, and consent forms will be available for those who wish to donate their photograph to the Lesbian Snapshot Collective, deciding how it may be archived and displayed. There is no expectation or pressure to lend or donate for those who prefer to keep their snapshot private. We will consider what is visible, what sits outside the frame, what the image cannot show and how it might be understood years from now. LSC is building more than an archive. With contributors’ consent, our photographs and stories may also become collective public artworks—collages or mosaics that make lesbian lives visible on our own terms. This workshop builds on earlier Becoming Archived sessions with Glasgow Women’s Library and Lavender Menace.