The project Black Archive Germany serves as a starting point to revive memories anew and to move various Afro-diasporic narratives in Germany into centre stage. It understands itself as a living archive – a space that does not simply exist, but is continuously re-created.

In this participatory workshop, we want to talk, see, and listen together about how personal and collective histories intertwine across past and present – but also how, within them, the social and aesthetic expressions of Black diasporic art and culture in Germany can be revealed.

Inspired by Tina Campt’s concept of Listening to Images, we will explore how images can not only be seen, but also heard.

In the workshop, we will engage with questions such as:

• What connections exist between what we see, hear, and remember? And how can we bring things that have been experienced and thought of separately?
• How can we tell our own stories visually?
• the possibilities of citing, referencing, and honouring one another in order to build upon the work that came before us

Together, we will explore these questions – through exchange, listening, sharing, and remembering. During the workshop, we will be working with, among other materials:

• The Sound of Defiance – Interview with Tina M. Campt by Brian Wallis
• Future Remembrance: Photography and Image Arts in Ghana – Tobias Wendl & Nancy du Plessis (1998, film)

→ The workshop is exclusively for Black, African, and Afro-diasporic people.
→ Bring your photos! There will be a scanner on site so you can digitize your family photographs.

Maximum number of participants is ten. Registration for the workshop: hap@basis-frankfurt.de

Black Archive Germany is a self-initiated project by Cate Lartey, aimed at making Black history and everyday culture in Germany more visible. The focus is on collecting private photographs from the 1970s to the early 2000s, documenting moments of social life, fashion, and community. The project seeks to bring together personal archives and contribute to the visibility of Black, African, and Afro-diasporic experiences in Germany. The collected materials will be published in a book publication.

Cate Lartey is an artist and curator from Düsseldorf. She studied design at the Peter Behrens School of Arts in Düsseldorf and is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM), majoring in art and media studies. In her artistic and curatorial practice, she engages with aesthetics, archives, and visual and material culture, with a focus on Africa’s diaspora, and beyond. She explores these themes through moving images and photography.