Positionality and Power in the Archives

Women as Memory-Keepers of Three Art Archives in the Philippines

Abstract

The immediate years following the Second World War in the Philippines were characterized by construction. This construction encompassed not only the reconstruction of physical structures destroyed by the war but also the construction of an identity of the newly independent Filipino nation-state emerging from colonial rule. Among the different efforts of identity-building from the various sectors of society was a newfound consciousness from the local art community to define what constituted a distinctly Filipino approach to art.

Archives are key to building and strengthening the collective memory of a society. Various archives in the country serve as repositories of records that aid the formation of Filipino consciousness. Likewise, archives that are dedicated to art and its key figures also document “the struggle of Philippine art,” - as articulated by Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, a key Filipina art patron in the immediate post-war years.

This paper examines three active archives in the Philippines dedicated to preserving records pertinent to Philippine Art History: the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Library and Archive, the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings, and the Roberto Chabet Archive. Using methods in library, information & archival studies, it explores how women who founded and cultivated these repositories became memory-keepers of Philippine art history. By comparing the vision and practices of these archives, it discusses how these memory keepers' positionality as women influenced approaches to what these archives include and exclude in their collections. Ultimately, this paper attempts to contribute to the emerging discourse on a decolonized approach to Philippine archival studies.