Panel 3
Documentary and VR
Speaker: Oya Media Group
Artists in the Archives
Speaker: Alison Skyrme
Moderated by Ken Moffatt | 2:00 - 3:45 p.m.
This presentation focuses on the work of Oya Media Group’s content creation and educational opportunities. “Oya” is an African Goddess and the namesake of this award winning Black woman-led media production company based in Toronto. Oya Media Group brings a perspective to media platforms from film and tv to virtual reality through socially relevant, life changing stories that amplify Black experiences. Specific reference (with visuals) will be given to a recent project focused on the immersive VR experience documenting the recovery efforts in Barbuda after the hurricane with a focus on inequitable development.
Oya Media Group is Ngardy Conteh George and Alison Duke. Hailing from Sierra Leone, Ngardy Conteh George (she/her) is a two-time Canadian Screen Award award-winning filmmaker, a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program Fellow and grantee, and recipient of grants from the Toronto and Ontario Art Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts. Alison Duke (she/her) is an award-winning writer-producer-director and passionate artistic activist committed to boldly telling stories of resistance and change. She co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning television documentary Mr. Jane and Finch (2019) directed by Ngardy Conteh George.
Alison Skyrme discusses how archives are a research tool that can be leveraged for a variety of creative and academic purposes over a number of disciplines. As more public and private archival collections are digitized and made searchable online, the breadth of archival material available for research and creative work has increased dramatically. Detail and standardization in descriptive finding aids differ between institutions, and physical and digital access varies and there are significant backlogs of material not yet described or accessible creating barriers to experienced scholars, and significant obstacles to early career scholars and novice researchers.
This talk provides recommendations and suggested workflows for incorporating archival research into scholarly, creative, and pedagogical work. It covers identifying appropriate archives, navigating descriptive databases and finding aids, dealing with reading room and physical access guidelines, acquiring copies, research planning, and copyright issues. Experiences from artists and scholars who regularly make sure of archival material will be incorporated.
Alison Skyrme is a Librarian in the Archives and Special Collections department at Ryerson University (renaming in process). Her research interests include the pedagogical use of primary sources, accessibility and democratisation of archival materials, and increasing access to BIPOC records and for BIPOC researchers. Alison has worked with many researchers, faculty, artists, students, and the public on navigating complex archival research, and created and facilitated workshops, lectures, and assignments for undergraduate and graduate students on the characteristics and challenges of archival research and navigating public and private collections. She has assisted curators with finding and selecting archival materials for exhibitions, and worked with my colleagues to improve the access and equity of our collections by implementing anti-racist and inclusive catalouging standards.
