[ecrea] CFP Symposium: Commemoration, memory, archive - investigating commemorative and memorial uses of personal, non-professional images in the digital age in the Global South

*Commemoration, memory, archive: investigating commemorative and 
memorial uses of personal, non-professional images in the digital age in 
the Global South*
*
*
A symposium at the *Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts*
*University of Sussex*
*4th and 5th September 2018*


The commemorative and memorial use of personal, private images in the 
context of large-scale violence and death has a long history. Private 
images have been continually employed to access worlds that no longer 
exist, to de-anonymize, individualize or humanize victims, to identify 
murderers and the murdered, to evidence contested events and to prove 
the existence of life before death. They populate archives, memorials 
and museums, places of public protest and, increasingly, myriad regions 
of the internet.

The private photographic archive has been an important part of what Paul 
Williams calls the “global rush to commemorate” (2007), starting, 
arguably, with the attempts to memorialize the Holocaust.

Yet in this movement from the private to public, from intimacy to 
historical significance, private images undergo transitions (including 
for example displacement, re-contextualization and politicization) in a 
manner that raises critical challenges for both commemorative practices 
and those to whom the images initially belonged. To what extent, as some 
scholars have argued, does this use of private images become part of a 
trend to globalize and homogenize commemoration, such that local 
contexts are overwritten? Similarly, where are issues of access, 
copyright and meaning addressed, particularly with the rise of the 
digital, and state-controlled, centralized memory-making?

This two-day symposium at the University of Sussex aims to explore real 
and perceived changes in the relationship(s) between private still 
images and the memorialization and commemoration of mass violence – 
including trauma – with a particular focus on practices in *Asia, 
Africa, the Middle East and South and Central America* in the digital 
age. Our latter emphasis on the digital is in response to the ways 
digital and social media are now arguably dominant in both personal and 
institutional commemoration, affecting all stages of image curation from 
archiving and scanning to display. As part of Sussex’s interdisciplinary 
ethos, we are particularly interested in exploring intersections between 
theory and practice and invite scholarly and practice contributions that 
speak to a range of themes as listed below.

We will be joined by:

• Members of the *Rwanda Genocide Archive* in Kigali and *Archivo 
Provincial de la Memoria in Córdoba*, Argentina who will discuss their 
respective commemorative and activist uses of private images.

• Keynote Speakers include: *Professor Ludmila da Silva Catela* 
(Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba Museum of Anthropology, 
Archivo Provincial de la Memoria); *Claver Irakoze* (Aegis Trust/Rwanda 
Genocide Archive in Kigali); and others TBC.

• Members of UK institutions concerned with memorializing conflict and 
violence.

• A screening of /The Faces We Lost 
<https://www.faceswelostfilm.com/trailer>/ (2017) followed by a Q&A with 
the director.

There will be dedicated networking time to further future collaborations.

We invite contributions to both the roundtable discussions and more 
traditional conference papers.*Please note that the aim of the 
roundtables is to generate and facilitate a broad exchange of knowledge 
and ideas and to nurture collaboration. Consequently, as selected 
roundtable members you will be asked to participate in the discussion 
from the perspective of your research expertise rather than present a 
traditional conference/practice paper. *

*ROUNDTABLES*

1. *Regional, national, cultural and geographic contexts* (which will 
foreground the following themes):

• Examples of the practice of commemorative, memorial and activist uses 
of personal, non-professional images in different national, cultural, 
geographical contexts. We are particularly interested in examples from 
Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South and Central America (comparative 
approaches, including with European and North American contexts, are 
also welcome).
• Holocaust-related commemorative practices and their influence on 
commemorative practices related to other instances of violence.
• Current, dominant private image-based commemorative practices in the 
Global South and how these reflect on the processes of witnessing and 
mediating pain, memory, trauma and history.
• Impact of “amateur”, domestic aesthetics and their relationship to 
authenticity.

2. *Archival, curatorial and artistic practices* (which will foreground 
the following themes):

• Definitions and re-definitions of the archive, with a focus on 
exploring the relationship between the private and the public.
• Archival and curatorial practices in the digital age.
• Private image use in artistic practice (film, photography, 
installation etc).
• The practical, methodological and ethical issues for researchers and 
artists documenting image-based commemorative practices.

3.*After the digital turn* (which will foreground the following questions):

• To what extent has the memorial ontology of the private image changed 
as a result of the proliferation of digital technologies?
• What are the implications – for both image and image owner – in the 
transition from personal archive to public digital sphere?
• How do issues of connectivity and access impact on the use of private 
images in the digital sphere?
• How is the digital integrated into the institutional use of private 
images and what are the implications?

4. *Now and then: commemoration, activism and future directions?* (which 
will foreground the following questions):

• What are the boundaries and relationships between image-based 
commemoration, activism and citizen journalism?
• What are the key issues and debates around privacy, ethics and 
appropriation in relation to the use of private images in digital 
commemorative practice (personal and institutional)?
• What might be the future directions of image-based commemoration in 
the Global South?

*PARTICIPATION*

We invite contributions to both the roundtable discussions and more 
traditional conference papers.

*Roundtable Participation*

If you would like to participate in the Roundtable discussions please 
send a *300-word expression of interest* *with a brief biography* to 
Piotr Cieplak on (imageandcommemoration /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(imageandcommemoration /at/ gmail.com)>by *9th July 2018. *

Abstracts should include: a) a brief overview of how your research or 
practice work fits into the remit of the roundtables b) three key points 
you would like to include for consideration and discussion among other 
participants.

*Traditional Papers*
*
*If you would like to submit a more traditional, 20-minute paper on any 
of the themes covered by the roundtables above please send an *abstract 
of 300 words* *and a brief biography* to Piotr Cieplak on 
(imageandcommemoration /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(imageandcommemoration /at/ gmail.com)> by *9th July 2018.*

We are particularly interested in hearing from *early career 
researchers* but abstracts from people at all stages of their career are 
welcome.

*REGISTRATION*

The symposium will be free to attend but you will need to register 
(details to follow) and the number of delegates will be limited. Lunch 
and refreshments will be provided on both days. A limited number of 
travel and accommodation bursaries are available; details on application.

The call for participation/papers can also be accessed here:
http://www.warandmedia.org/photomemory/symposium/


*FUNDERS*
The symposium is funded by the British Academy and supported by the 
School of Media, Film and Music, University of Sussex.


Dr Piotr Cieplak
Lecturer in Filmmaking
School of Media, Film and Music
University of Sussex

Just published: /Death, Image, Memory: Genocide in Rwanda and its 
Aftermath in Photography and Documentary Film 
<http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137579874>/

New film: /The Faces We Lost <https://vimeo.com/227386149>/ (2017)

*Recent research projects:*

PI: 'Personal archives of trauma and violence. Image and memory in the 
digital age – Argentina and Rwanda' (British Academy/Levehulme Trust, 
2016-2018)

PI: "Public deaths, private archives: image-based commemoration and 
remembrance in Rwanda and the Global South' (British Academy, 2018-2019)





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