Using the Archive Workshop: Highlighting Poets and Poetry in the Collection

Using the Archive is a workshop for both new and returning researchers on how to navigate AAAinA’s physical and digital resources. This program offers a guide to Asia Art Archive’s (AAA) acquisitions processes, as well as a walkthrough of some of the features of and search tools for our Collections. In honor of National Poetry Month, this edition of Using the Archive will celebrate the presence of poets and writers in the archive with a collaborative contribution from visual artist Hai Zhang and poet and artist Keisha-Gaye Anderson.

Since 2000, AAA has been collecting primary and secondary materials surrounding recent art in Asia and our growing Research and Library Collections now contain over 120,000 records, ranging from publications and ephemera to correspondence, photographic documentation, and video recordings. To facilitate access and improve the user experience, AAA updates features on the digital platform, making sure these valuable resources remain available to users worldwide.

This public workshop begins with an overview of AAA’s Collections and their development, followed by a session on how to access and make use of the digital platform on site at our Brooklyn Heights location. The scope of the collection of secondary materials available at AAAinA’s Reading Room is also highlighted. The workshop concludes with a Q&A session with a focus on addressing participants’ questions and helping identify appropriate resources for particular research interests.

Bios:

Hai Zhang is a Chinese-born artist based in New York. Working with photography, drawing, printmaking, and installation, Zhang treats each medium as an integral investigative process, examining subject matter, context, and the conditions of representation. He has exhibited internationally at museums and galleries across New York, Europe and Asia, and was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2014.

Zhang has received grants and fellowships from the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Rafael Viñoly Architecture Research Fellowship, and the India China Institute at The New School. His decade-long project in Alabama resulted in photographs and collages held in the permanent collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. His artist books are included in the collections of Asia Art Archive in America, the Queens Museum Library, and the Center for Book Arts. He teaches at Parsons School of Design.

Keisha-Gaye Anderson is an award-winning poet, author, visual artist, and communications strategist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her books include Everything Is Necessary, Gathering the Waters, and A Spell for Living. Keisha's writing has appeared in Academy of American Poets, Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, Kweli, The Caribbean Writer, and many other magazines and journals. She has received fellowships and/or grants from the NY Foundation for the Arts, NY State Council on the Arts, Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, and the Laundromat Project. She is a past VONA and Callaloo fellow and was a Brooklyn Public Library Artist in Residence. In her early career, she worked as a producer for PBS, CBS, and NHK (Japanese TV) and as a writer for magazines like Black Enterprise, Psychology Today, and Teen People. Keisha’s art has been exhibited widely, including venues like Weeksville Heritage Center, Restoration Plaza, and Carter Burden Gallery. Keisha lectures in English at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY and Poets House, and leads creative writing workshops internationally. Learn more at www.keishagaye.ink.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Image credit: Processing materials at Asia Art Archive’s archiving facilities in Hong Kong. Courtesy of Asia Art Archive.

The event is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, and other foundations and individuals.

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Host or Publisher Asia Art Archive in America