With Rashmi Devi Sawhney
Ages 18+
In English
Archives are never neutral repositories. Whether constructed, partial, or profoundly political, they are shaped by various decisions—what to preserve, what to show and what to render invisible. During these times of digital abundance, moving images occupy a paradoxical position: they circulate endlessly, yet many histories remain deliberately erased—unrecorded and undocumented.
This workshop explores both cinema and archives, not as separate domains, but as deeply interconnected sites of knowledge production. We will investigate how moving images construct memory and historical understanding. Focusing on the perspectives centred in visual archives, we will examine how filmmakers, artists and communities can disseminate archival logic to not only recover and create, but also to imagine alternative histories.
Instead of perceiving archives as fixed repositories, we will approach them as epistemological sites of struggle—places where power operates through visibility and invisibility, where materiality shapes meaning, and resistance takes the form of counter-memory. Participants will engage with theoretical frameworks while also working with moving images and archival materials.
The course is designed for artists, students, curators, filmmakers and anyone interested in finding out how visual culture shapes what we remember and what we forget. No prior film or archival experience is necessary.
This session is free, and all materials are provided.
Sharjah Art Foundation is committed to making its programmes inclusive and accessible. You can arrange for any support needed through the registration form.
For more information, email learning@sharjahart.org, or call (06) 568 8800.
About Rashmi Devi Sawhney
Media theorist and curator Rashmi Devi Sawhney likes to approach archives in the mode of a detective and a storyteller. Her work centres on South Asian film and video art, visual archives and historiography, and the politics of representation. She is Associate Arts Professor of Film and New Media at New York University, Abu Dhabi. She is co-founder of VisionMix (an international artists’ network) and the Indigenous Film and Media Alliance, South Asia.
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