CPA 2020 Compendium

Editorial Note

Curating for Culture’s first self-published work, this archival compendium is conceptualised with an intention to memorialise the experiences from Constructing Personal Archives 2020. The editorial is primarily rooted around sharing the variety of exchanges, which then makes way for co-curation of the project content by participants themselves. Content also remains at the core of the design and visualisation exercises, with very little emphasis on a singular idea. Rather many different elements are used in making this compendium, and they may or may not weave the archival narratives together, from one reader to another.

Thus, the form attempts to speak for the conjunction which has taken place over these six months, across the program, projects and the people involved amidst a pandemic. Aesthetics of the digital interface, customisation of the tools and processes, local responses to the uncertainties and cross-pollination across apparently disconnected stories, is what this flap-covered compilation promises to preserve.

- Ishita Shah, Vallabhi Jalan

Constructing Personal Archives 2020 would not have happened, if not for all the participants of Family Archiving workshops conducted across April to May 2020. We also received immense motivation from the presenters and discussants for the series, Curating Archives: a celebration of the International Archives Week hosted at Curating for Culture in June 2020.

We thank all the participants of Constructing Personal Archives 2020 for making the pitch to us and then seeing the projects through until the Finale; as well as your continued contribution for this compendium and other promotional activities. Thank you for trusting in us and our approaches.

This program wouldn’t have been a success without the time and efforts of our workshop facilitators and speakers for the open dialogues. We are also grateful to Asia Art Archive India, Drama Queen, Navjivan Press, and Hanno for coming onboard to co-curate the Finale.