Summer of 2024. This research-creation project explores printmaking as a collaborative method for activating community archives and diasporic histories. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Qanita Lilla (Associate Curator, Arts of Africa) as part of Tracing Kingston's Solidarities (Movement #3), the project brought together nine community participants to reinterpret personal archives through collective printmaking processes.

Stories Out Loud traces connections between memory, migration, and belonging. Through workshops involving collage, drawing, painting, photography, scanning, digital editing, and printmaking, participants transformed personal documents, photographs, heirlooms, and family histories into contemporary print works. The image shown captures a moment of shared authorship, highlighting printmaking as a collective act of storytelling and cultural expression.

By bridging traditional archival materials with contemporary digital and analog print practices, the project examines how personal and collective histories can be reimagined, mobilized, and made visible. In doing so, it foregrounds community voices and contributes to more inclusive cultural narratives.

This project was supported by the City of Kingston Arts Fund, the Ontario Arts Council, and a SSHRC Explore Grant.

A suite of these prints is in the W.D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections at Queen’s University.

Participants: Lakith R., Morganne B., Meghan G., Olivia G., Emily G, Anita B., Faten M., and Jabra M.

Collaborated and printed with artist Jabra M. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Morganne B. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Anita B. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Olivia B. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Megan G. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist/curator Qanita L. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Faten M. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collaborated and printed with artist Lakith R. TKS Movement #3. Laser engraved ink on paper. 37×57 inches. 2024

Collective Feedback Session on Developing Compositions at Ontario Hall

Qanita L working on the composition.

Anita rolling up the large format laser engraved block

Collaboratively pulling the large format print.