Spatial considerations: Archiving Black queer life

For this presentation and talk, we focused on the intersection between public space and archives, paying specific attention to Black queer lives and archives.

We asked the question of how to archive Black queer life, sites of intimacy and their subsequent implications on Black queer social life. How do we pay attention to archival material central to queer world-making: senses, desire, affect, fluids, tactility, opacity and so on, that refuse archival scientism? Furthermore, we asked if it is possible to archive Black queer life and experiences without taking space seriously.

To tease out reflections, thoughts, further questions, tensions on what a Black queer archive is (can be and not be) along with the role space plays, Black Archives Sweden together with Plattform KcSyd invited the artists Ajamu X and Evan Ifekoya to present their practices. Their presentations were followed by a moderated conversation between the artists on the role of archives in Black queer world-making, led by the independent curator Tawanda Appiah.

The visual documentation of the event was done by Abdul Dube