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Although ARLIS/NA has been holding annual North American conferences for 51 years, this marks the first time it has been in Mexico. Mexico City is often lauded as having more museums than any other city in the world. While this figure is highly contested,  it is evident in the generous art and cultural heritage sites why CDMX made a fitting location to gather for the 51^st Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) conference- “Transformación”.

The invigorating intellectual encounters of ARLIS/NA were cushioned by numerous opportunities for culturally immersive site visits. While these visits were useful in understanding place, and in locating one’s self with cultural awareness, I was diligent in attending the workshops, sessions and panels.

These panels were invaluable learning experiences for me as an arts archivist. Here are a sample of a few I attended relating to transformative digital archives: Art Resources on the Web: An Introduction to Web Archive Data Analysis and Instruction, “The Collaborative ART Archive (CARTA): Next Steps in Art-Archiving the Web” and “Beyond Technical Solutions: Understanding Digital Accessibility as a Transformative and Collaborative Process”.

These workshops provided valuable opportunities for me to consider how in the academic institution I am interning with, digital preservation and collections can be powerful conduits for telling stories through participatory and non-hierarchical memory making.

There were plenty of panelists that offered perspective as artists, art historians and arts librarians from their own lens and voices too. These perspectives revealed how colonialism impacted their practice and modes of addressing imperialism within their work:

•  Convocation speaker, Mexican photographer, Alejandro Cartagena, who spoke on visualizing and narrating the transforming social and political landscape Latin America due to assimilation and migration
• Plenary speaker, Dr. Barbara E. Mundy, who spoke on
  post-colonial Mexican art reclamation from European institutions

These workshops and panelists appeared to be addressing similar questions around struggles with proprietorship of cultural heritage within their own cultures; cultures who have always held onto the meaning, stories and value of their displaced heritage. I found  myself asking questions around the social responsibility of archivists for the legacy and existence of these collections, such as:

What is the relationship between the art archives and the community of origin? What are the presumptions we have of our users, and how do they how shape the way we document, acquire, and provide access? How do we avoid replicating systems of ethnocide when extracting intangible (or tangible) cultural heritage? Are there ways to prioritize access to the scholars and students who the archived art and materials originate from? When we, as archivists, convey the value of these collections to Institutional constituents, how do we invite the communities they represent or belong to in the conversation?

The value of ARLIS/NA is the space it provides to question and share this significant work with other librarians in community. While I acquired critical technical and theoretical skills that will contribute to the archives I am a part of, I aspire concretely to relate back to the artists, makers and communities navigating colonial legacies and claims over the ownership, custodianship and power. I came away with more questions, perhaps, than answers, seeking and embodying “transformación” for the archives: struggling, dissolving, reimagining, revising, and becoming.

Thank you to Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Network (DPOE-N) who supported me attending this conference with a Digital Professional Development Grant award.