Responding To The Archive: Mobilisation, Myth and Memory

这项以实践为基础的研究将使用绘画和素描来询问英国对英语加勒比地区黑人权力组织（1967-1976）的反应，这些组织记录在国家档案馆外交和联邦事务部（FCO）的收藏中。英国外交部收藏了72张标有“黑人权力”（1967-1976）的唱片。它们是一系列内部通信和情报报告，记录了英国对整个讲英语的加勒比地区黑人权力组织的监视。这些记录中的许多都是在过去十年中公开的，有些是在2020年才公开的。本研究将采用跨学科的理论方法，以实践为主导：从后殖民的角度看待记忆、档案和文化理论，并从固有的黑人酷儿视角出发。通过“视觉解档案”的过程，本研究将建立在一个关键概念的框架上，包括Hanchard（2008）和Scott（2008）对“黑色记忆”和“状态记忆”的并置。这项研究将专门回应国家档案，质疑哪些知识可以从国家记录中获得，而这些知识可能不会出现在其他地方。我的目标是创造一个反映黑人激进传统的作品，它使用视觉艺术实践作为一种手段，参与位于国家记忆和记忆之外的批判性对话。油画和素描将被用来质疑英国外交部的记录可能揭示英国政府对黑人权力组织的反应，否则这些组织在国家记忆中是模糊的。

This practice-based study will use painting and drawing to interrogate Britain's response to Black Power organising in the English-speaking Caribbean (1967-1976), documented in The National Archives Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) collections. There are 72 records labelled 'BLACK POWER' (1967-1976), within the FCO collections. They are a series of internal communications and intelligence reports documenting Britain's surveillance of Black Power organising across the English-speaking Caribbean. Many of these records became publicly available within the last decade, and in some cases only in 2020.This research will take an interdisciplinary approach to theory, led by practice: regarding memory, archives and cultural theory from a postcolonial standpoint, with an inherently black queer perspective. Through a process of 'visual unarchiving' this study will build upon a framework of key concepts including Hanchard (2008) and Scott's (2008) juxtaposition of 'black memory' and 'state memory'. This research will respond specifically to the state archive, questioning what knowledge can be gained from state records that may not be present elsewhere. I aim to create a body of work that reflects a black radical tradition which uses visual artistic practice as a means of engaging in critical dialogues situated outside of state memory and remembering. Painting and drawing will be utilised to question what the FCO records may reveal about the British government's response to Black Power organising, that is otherwise obscured in state memory.