Approach to memory-work in a historic photography collection

Yesterday we focused on memory and photographs and for my post I thought it might be useful to share an example of a broad (institutional) approach to memory-work in the ethno-historical photography collection at the Queensland Museum (where I did a 3-month prac in undergrad). I’ll briefly highlight some of my observations from time there, in relation to photographs and the creation/transmission of narratives.

After our visit to the Museum of Revolution yesterday, there seemed to be a general feeling that many photographs lacked the information required for us to really understand what they meant and I think this can be frustrating for audiences.

The problem is (as became clear to me quickly at the Queensland Museum) that many historic photographs simply don’t come with much information attached. Sometimes all that is written on a photo is a key word, place or name (whether that be subject, photographer or collector) and the rest of the narrative is lost.

In some cases, the photograph has an obvious aesthetic value a can be used for exhibitions (for e.g. photos of king plates in Australian Aboriginal societies, or perhaps photo subjects with traditional scarring). Yet in many cases, photos that lack contextual information are relegated to a life in the storage facility, because we just don’t know enough about them to put them in an exhibition. Museum staff (rightfully) shy away from inferring information about them, because they don’t want to misinform the audience.

I was interested to learn that the Queensland Museum has an ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consultative Committee’. The committee has the final say about whether certain photos are (or are not) put on display. Along with research staff they help to identify contemporary family members of photograph subjects and clarify who has the right to make decisions about particular photos within different communities.

The committee seems to be a solid start to the process of memory-work. It guides staff towards communities and helps facilitate community engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (whose photos make up a large portion of the collection). Relatives and community may choose to assist the museum to fill in knowledge gaps and help ascribe new meaning to photographs (as we spoke about in class - ‘renewing’ cultural memory). The ancestors of people in photographs add their version of family stories to the existing narrative attached to the photo. Thus creating a new narrative and helping to continue the life of that photo into the present.

The idea of a committee reminds me of the approach used in ‘Objects & Stories: Hanoi Life under the Subsidy Economy’. Identifying the appropriate family group/elders/ancestors; collecting their stories and adding them to the information we already know.

I guess how the museum presents dual narratives in exhibitions is another part of memory-work and that’s what we’ve been talking about a lot this week. It can be tricky and politicised and I’m really looking forward to gaining more skills on how to do this practice. 

I think the Queensland Museum case study shows that a museum can fit memory-work into their day-to-day operations in a way that facilitates community engagement.