Where We Belong: Artists in the Archive Symposium

In conjunction with its discovery process Where We Belong: Artists in the Archive, the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) will hold a symposium in which artists, activists, academics, and archivists will explore the challenges and opportunities of preserving the histories of marginalized communities in America. During the event, the five artist collaborators for the project—composer Rudresh Mahanthappa, designer Chiraag Bhakta, dance artist Joti Singh, visual artist Chitra Ganesh, and musician Zain Alam—will premiere new works-in-progress informed by their investigations into the SAADA archives.

Where We Belong invites a multidisciplinary cohort of artists to explore how SAADA’s archival materials can inform new works that grapple with questions of identity and belonging and effectively counteract misrepresentations of immigrant and minority communities. The project’s findings will lay the foundation for SAADA’s future community engagement initiatives, such as the possible development of a digital artist-in-residence program.