DIGITAL ARCHIVING

Interviews by Renaè Mangena

Written by Renaè

Whether it is through internet memes, highly pixelated pictures dating back to the early 90s or intentional means of historical documentation. The visual documentation and preservation of our present is extremely important to our future remembrance. A couple of months ago I was scrolling through my Instagram when I came across a post from Thuthukani Myeza’s Instagram account which he has titled ‘OnlyForDisplay,’ I remember being taken by the work that was on the page. A beautiful digital documentation of black people’s history that was not reflective of their struggle, after having had the conversation with him and hearing him say

IT REMINDED ME OF A PIECE I READ A FEW YEARS AGO TITLED A PICTURE IS THE BEGINNING, A REMEMBRANCE OF SANTU MOFOKENG’S LIFE AND WORK ON AFRICA IS A COUNTRY, WHICH READ:

“there’s a certain humanity in the work of late South African photographer Santu Mofokeng in how he approached his subjects and the politics of representation. Which also remedies an image from the now viral sensation CloudFolks, which is run by Thabiso Ngobeni. The common thread in the work that both Thuthukani and Thabiso are doing is the digital documentation and archiving of black history in the present. Whether through well-constructed collage images that tell a story of our ancestors or capturing black people in mundane spaces. I think it is extremely important that young people document their present state of being as done by those before them. There is so much richness in the representation of black figures in the state of being, as they love, laugh, dance, or simply exist. These images became how we remember our present and preserve our existence on this earth, while doing away with colonial past representations of us.