by Alanah Swindle | Dec 22, 2023 | Black Portrait Photograph Collection, Theorizing the archive, Unknown Location
Creating pictorial genealogies was the means by which one could ensure against the losses of the past. . . .They provided a necessary narrative, a way for us to enter history without words. –bell hooks1 At the end of October 2023, our class, “Curating the Hidden...
by Marie Pinkney | Dec 11, 2023 | Theorizing the archive, Theory & Practice, Uncategorized
Do you see yourself out there? Where do you see your likeness when you travel around the world? How do you know where you belong or where you’re going? It is often said that representation matters. Portrait photography is representation. It is proof that we...
by Taylor Brookins | Dec 7, 2023 | Black Portrait Photograph Collection, Texas, Theorizing the archive, Theory & Practice
Route via car from Texas to Delaware One thousand, six hundred- and forty-one-miles, a quick Google Maps search shows the driving distance from Texas to Delaware. It has been established that in 2023 a significant number of the photographs within the Black Portrait...
by Alyssa Gorton | Dec 5, 2023 | Black Portrait Photograph Collection, Theorizing the archive, Theory & Practice
Among the most valuable lessons I have learned in this class is that archiving is not wholly individual work. In fact, collaboration and creating “networks, not monuments,” to borrow from Helton’s [1] 2019 work, is integral in designing and upholding a new era...
by Alyssa Gorton | Nov 17, 2023 | Black Portrait Photograph Collection, Texas, Theorizing the archive, Theory & Practice
Left: Portrait of two women standing and two men seated, cabinet photograph, c. 1880-1910s, UD Library: Black Portrait Photograph CollectionRight: Portrait, possibly Fannie Williams and Ellen, c. 1880-1910s, UD Library: Black Portrait Photograph Collection The second...
by Lyric Lott | Nov 13, 2023 | Black Portrait Photograph Collection, Texas, Theorizing the archive, Uncategorized
The bright flash of a light bulb, the chafe of a stiff collar, the quiet clink of glass plates. What would the sitters of this portrait photograph have seen, felt, heard, and smelt when this photo was taken? A few weeks ago, I found myself walking down the...