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Chapter
Photographs and Memory Making
DOI link for Photographs and Memory Making
Photographs and Memory Making book
Photographs and Memory Making
DOI link for Photographs and Memory Making
Photographs and Memory Making book
ABSTRACT
Kewpie (1941-2012) was an important figure who belonged to a queer community that was highly visible and integrated into the broader community of District Six, an inner-city neighbourhood of the city of Cape Town that was subject to forced removals under apartheid. In the photographic exhibition Kewpie: Daughter of District Six, at the District Six Museum Homecoming Centre, photographs drawn from Kewpie’s personal photographic collection held at GALA Queer Archives were used to give visibility to the lesser-known narrative of queer culture in the District. They offer a rich heritage resource to a community that has since been disrupted by forced removals. This chapter reflects on the curation of the exhibition. Selected photographs, representing key exhibition themes, are used to discuss the curatorial approach, and the chapter explores not only how the photographs can be used to tell the story of a life and a place but also the lives of the photographs themselves. The discussion shows how purposeful heritage work can be used to assert the importance of the past in the present, develop connections within and between communities, and make new memories. For this project, photographs were used as memory objects to elicit new histories, foster intergenerational dialogue, facilitate ongoing District Six Museum work dealing with issues of loss, reconstruction and return, and promote LGBTQI+ rights. The chapter concludes with reflections on the curatorial process, the exhibition, and the programme of engagement, memorialisation and remembrance work that accompanied the staging of the exhibition.