Reconstructing the archive: Access, documentation, conservation

There has been limited research into the role of reconstruction in the preservation of Indigenous Australian archives, both those created within Indigenous communities, and those created about Indigenous people. Following a phenomenological methodology in which the research question is contested against real world experience, two case studies investigate the potential of reconstruction as a methodology in the conservation of Indigenous Australian archival material and the contexts in which it is created and used. First, a comparative analysis of metadata and documentation practices at the Warlayirti Artists’ Centre archive in Balgo, Western Australia, outlines the role of conservation in supporting the reintegration of access to artist-run archives. Second, an interview with the artist Brook Andrew documents how contemporary Indigenous artists create their own archives to disrupt received notions of identity, and to articulate the archival continuum into which contemporary Indigenous identity develops. This study develops a model of reconstruction to provide theoretical and practical guidelines for understanding the relevance and role of archives, and the significance of archival re-appropriation by Indigenous artists. This paper argues that, in supporting and enabling the process of reconstruction, conservators can work with Indigenous Australian artists to sustain their cultural past and collective memory in different material forms into the present.