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Researching and Reclaiming Edmonton's Queer History: Que(e)rying Curatorial and Archival Practice Through a Community-Based Public Art Exhibition

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In this chapter, we explore the process of que(e)rying curatorial and archival practice by explicating the origins, development, and significance of Edmonton's Queer History Project (EQHP), which is a multi-media public art exhibition and digital archive comprised of artwork, artifacts, and videotaped life-history oral interviews that debuted at the Art Gallery of Alberta, June 2015 during Edmonton's 35th Pride celebrations. Drawing on community and private collections spanning 35+ years, this community-based research project provides a glimpse into queer fugitive (Hill, 1996) and subjugated knowledges (Halberstam, 2012) past and present, and how queer subaltern counterpublics (Fraser, 1990; Warner 2005) survive and thrive amidst the hetero- and cisnormative status quo. We explore how we challenged and queered museum conventions to create a multi-media public art exhibition that rendered queer lives intelligible and visible to mark and celebrate Edmonton's lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and Two Spirit (LGBTQ2) communities.

Keywords: 2 Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer history ; 2SLBGTQ community archives ; 2SLGBTQ, LGBTQ2, LGBT, LGBT*, 2SLGBTQ*, LGBTQ2*, LGBTQ+ ; Edmonton's Queer History Project (EQHP) ; LBGTQ2* history and archives ; lIfe history interviews ; oral life history ; queer art and exhibitions ; queer arts and culture ; queer community-based research ; queer counternarratives; queer countercultures, queer counterdiscourses ; queer history and archives ; queer multi-media public art exhibitions ; queer oral histories ; queer oral life history interviewing

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Researching and Reclaiming Edmonton's Queer History: Que(e)rying Curatorial and Archival Practice Through a Community-Based Public Art Exhibition
Intellect , 197 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789389166_16
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     [Google Scholar]
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     [Google Scholar]
  4. Chenier, E. (2009). Hidden from historians: Preserving lesbian oral history in Canada. Archivaria, 68(Fall), 247–269.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Dinshaw, C. , Edelman, L. , Ferguson, R. A. , Freccero, C. , Freeman, E. , Halberstam, J. , Jagose, A. , Nealon, C. S. , & Nguyen T. H. (2007). Theorizing queer temporalities: A roundtable discussion. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 13(2–3), 177–195.
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  6. Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. Social Text, 25/26, 56–80.
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  7. Given, L. M. (2008). Life stories. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopaedia of qualitative research methods (pp. 484–485). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412963909.n246
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  9. Hall, S. (2001). Constituting an archive. Third Text, 15(54), 89–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09528820108576903
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  10. Hamilton, P. , & Shopes, L. (Eds.). (2008). Oral history and public memories. Temple University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hill, R. J. (1996). Learning to transgress: A social-historical conspectus of the American gay lifeworld as a site of struggle and resistance. Studies in the Education of Adults, 28(2), 253–279.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Iseke, J. M. (2011). Indigenous digital storytelling in video: Witnessing with Alma Desjarlais. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(3), 311–329. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2011.591685
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Kinsman, G. (1996). The regulation of desire: Homo and hetero sexualities. Black Rose.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Lavoie, M. M. (2021). Mentorship as co-created relational learning alongside trans and non-binary young adults: A visual narrative inquiry [Doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta]. Education and Research Archive (ERA), University of Alberta. https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-wbx7-a898
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    [Google Scholar]
  16. Millar, L. (2006). Touchstones: Considering the relationship between memory and archives. Archivaria, 61(1), 105–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Mills, R. (2006). Queer is here? Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender histories and public culture. History Workshop Journal, 62(1), 253–263.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2014, 31 January). Policy on preventing discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression. Queen's Printer for Ontario. https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-because-gender-identity-and-gender-expression
  19. Pinar, W. F. (Ed.). (1998). Queer theory in education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Schellenberg, T. R. (1956). Modern archives: Principles and techniques. University of Chicago.212
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Simon, R. , Eppert, C. , Cloamen, M. , & Beres, L. (2001). Witness as study: The difficult inheritance of testimony. The Review of Education/Pedagogy/ Cultural Studies, 22(4), 285–322.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Tierney, W. (2000). Undaunted courage: Life history and the postmodern challenge. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 537–554). SAGE.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Warner, M. (2002). Publics and counterpublics. Zone Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Watson, L. C. , & Watson-Franke, M. B. (1985). Interpreting life histories: An anthropological inquiry. Rutgers University Press.
     [Google Scholar]

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