In this talk hosted by the Getty Research Institute, join Simone Fujita, art librarian, archivist, and bibliographer of African American art at Getty Research Institute, and curator Krystal Tribbett for a conversation about the role of libraries and archives in indexing Black creative thought and resistance. Fujita and Tribbett discuss the responsibilities of institutions to collect and preserve materials from Black artists and social movements.
This conversation is in association with The Black Index, an online exhibition curated by Bridget R. Cooks that was previously on view at the Contemporary Art Center Gallery at the University of California, Irvine from Jan 14, 2021 to Mar 20, 2021. The show will soon be coming to the Art Galleries at Black Studies' Christian-Green Gallery in the fall - stay tuned for more information!
“The history of archives is based in a practice of extraction -- in the picking and choosing of things deemed valuable and rare, and the keeping of things for the benefit of some and the exclusion of others. This history has had a lasting impression on what is preserved, how records are preserved, and who does the preservation work. When I first began working in archives, I recall reading and hearing a lot about the need to diversify the historical record and the archival profession. While it seemed new and exciting to many, as a Black person, this was not new news to me.” - Krystal Tribbett
