Beyond the Archive: Curating, Memory, and the Artist's Public Image, by Yueqing Xu

Yuequing Xu undertook a Schaeffer Fine Arts Library Internship working on the Sherman Gallery Archives. Yuequing is studying a Master in Art Curating in the Discipline of Art History at the University of Sydney.

When we talk about curating, we often think of the works hanging on the white walls of art galleries—but what about the materials that don't make it into the exhibition halls? Exhibition brochures, press clippings, email printouts, handwritten notes, gallery invitations... do these "scraps" scattered in black folders also play a role in the construction of art history? In an era where contemporary art spreads rapidly through biennials, Instagram, and white cubes, returning to the filing cabinet for curating seems like a quiet but determined retreat.

Over the past few decades, art institution archives have become crucial resources for the research and presentation of contemporary art history. Libraries are not just storage facilities; they are dynamic nodes for the reorganization of knowledge.^[i] At the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library, I encountered Sherman Galleries' precious "black box archive." These documents from the 1980s and 2000s once lay quietly in folders—exhibition brochures, invitations, critical essays, personal letters, artist bios, old photographs... They are neither works nor exhibits, but they record a fragment of the history of contemporary Australian art. These seemingly ordinary documents were initially just objects for me to organize metadata. However, as I continued to read and annotate them, I gradually realized a question: Do we remember artists because of their works, or because someone archived them?

Yuequing Xu undertaking research as part of her Schaeffer Fine Arts Library internship.

As French historian Pierre Nora has argued, memory in modern society has gradually shifted from context to memory site (lieux de mémoire), using tangible objects, monuments, exhibitions, and documents to "freeze" memories. Libraries are precisely such places that carry artistic memories. ^[ii]Compared to traditional national archives, these active archives from private galleries possess a unique agency. ^[iii]

 Exhibition at the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library.

They are consciously preserved, reclassified, digitized, and ultimately republished through exhibitions, becoming knowledge resources for the public and researchers. As one of Australia's leading art research libraries, the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library's practice of presenting and cataloguing institutional memory has profoundly influenced the shaping of research paths, the legitimization of artistic narratives, and the visibility of marginalized experiences.^[iv]

In the library's exhibition space, a selection of documentary materials and photographic works were displayed, presenting these documents, black-and-white photographs, handwritten notes, and printed images, which were once "circulated internally," in glass display cases. These archives collage out the images of artists constructed by the times - they are not only creators, but also "characters" generated by the curatorial context, media labels and gallery system. The exhibition context does not rely on the original works through these archival materials, so the by-products of these exhibition operations can become the entrance to retelling art history.

It let the audience see how the identity of the artist is repeatedly written and negotiated in the curatorial language, media narratives and private records. Including Gordon Bennett's letter to the curator, Robert Atkins's photos with his works, Cai Guoqiang's "behind-the-scenes photos of the performance, Dadang Christanto Interviews with gallery staff and photos with gallery staff. A congratulatory letter, a work photo, and a draft of the curatorial document. These insignificant pieces of paper are now afforded the opportunity to be revisited.

The exhibition features a letter never before exhibited—a lengthy letter Gordon Bennett wrote to Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1998. This letter, never actually sent, is filled with his respect and resonance for the late artist, revealing his profound reflections on the tension between being named and naming oneself in the contemporary Australian context. He candidly discusses his mixed-race identity and his experiences growing up in white society, expressing his deep appreciation for the artist. This letter reveals his keen awareness of how images of Indigenous people are misinterpreted and disciplined in public culture.

Adjacent to this letter is an official gallery biography from 1998. This text, using standardized language, emphasizes Bennett's awards, international exhibitions, and how his work critiques mainstream historical narratives and racial essentialism. This type of biography serves a professional purpose and also reflects the gallery's strategic approach to promoting artists, providing audiences with a gateway into their artistic practice. The juxtaposition of these two materials is not intended to contrast the binary relationship between the private and the institutional, but rather to present the multiple narratives artists face in different contexts. The process of republishing art archives transforms private archival resources into intellectual assets that can be used for research, teaching, and public understanding.^[v] This contrast creates a powerful tension within the exhibition, raising an important question: Who defines an artist's public image? Is it the artwork? The gallery? The media? The audience?

While sorting through the Sherman Gallery archive, a wealth of supporting materials not included in the exhibition have appeared, such as exhibition schedules; internal emails from artists commenting on formatting details; multiple handwritten invitations; and handwritten date stamps and archive numbers on the backs of newspaper clippings. Though rarely seen by the public, these precious materials have been fundamental to the success of each exhibition. These valuable materials have long been overlooked in art historical narratives, treated as mere administrative documents. However, through the process of reorganization and curation, their significance has been reawakened.^[vi] Curating is never just about selecting works; it is also about searching for overlooked voices and images in the archives.

At a time when libraries are increasingly becoming spaces for cultural exhibition, this exhibition attempts to demonstrate that even silent files can participate in the rewriting of contemporary art history—not as conclusions, but as possibilities for ongoing negotiation. Viewing these archives, we no longer simply view works; we observe how the public image of an artist is produced.

Research Seminar & Exhibition: Beyond the Archive: Curating, Memory, and the Artist's Public Image

Highlights: 35–45 materials from nine artist folders including Howard Arkley, Gordon Bennett, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Dadang Christanto; innovative features include a simulated curatorial desk, interactive QR guides, and a message wall for visitor impressions.

Date & Venue: Thursday, 7^th August 2025 at 3.00 PM, at Schaeffer Library Seminar Room, RC Mills Building (A26), Camperdown, University of Sydney. 

Links to Internship Video and Schaeffer Library Page:

https://powerinstitute.org.au/schaeffer-fine-arts-library-internship-program-2025

Schaeffer Fine Arts Library Internship, Noel Gray archives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GCdIilUHZU

References

Durukan, S. Nesli Gül, and Kadriye Tezcan Akmehmet. “Uses of the Archive in Exhibition Practices of Contemporary Art Institutions.” Archives and Records: The Journal of the Archives and Records Association 42, no. 2 (2021): 131–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/23257962.2020.1770709.

Hamilton, Carolyn, ed. Refiguring the Archive. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.

Kam, D. Vanessa. “On Collecting and Exhibiting Art Objects in Libraries, Archives, and Research Institutes.” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 20, no. 2 (Fall 2001): 60–66. https://doi.org/10.1086/adx.20.2.27949147.

Nora, Pierre. “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire.” Representations, no. 26 (Spring 1989): 7–24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928520.

Reed, Marcia. “From the Archive to Art History.” The Art Bulletin 99, no. 2 (2017): 121–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2017.1332900.

Robinson, Helena. “Remembering Things Differently: Museums, Libraries and Archives as Memory Institutions and the Implications for Convergence.” Museum Management and Curatorship 27, no. 4 (2012): 413–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2012.720188.

^[i]  Marcia Reed, “From the Archive to Art History,” in Forum: The Politics of Legacy - Conversations and Perspectives, Art Bulletin of Australia and New Zealand, published online July 12, 2017, 121–28, https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2017.1332900.

^[ii]  Pierre Nora, “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire,” Representations, no. 26 (Spring 1989): 7–24, https://doi.org/10.2307/2928520.

^[iii]  Helena Robinson, “Remembering Things Differently: Museums, Libraries and Archives as Memory Institutions and the Implications for Convergence,” Museum Management and Curatorship 27, no. 4 (2012): 413–429, https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2012.720188.

^[iv]  Carolyn Hamilton, “Introduction,” in Refiguring the Archive, ed. Carolyn Hamilton et al. (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002), 7–17.

^[v]  D. Vanessa Kam, “On Collecting and Exhibiting Art Objects in Libraries, Archives, and Research Institutes,” Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America 20, no. 2 (Fall 2001): 10–14, https://doi.org/10.1086/adx.20.2.27949147.

^[vi]  S. Nesli Gül Durukan and Kadriye Tezcan Akmehmet, “Uses of the Archive in Exhibition Practices of Contemporary Art Institutions,” Archives and Records: The Journal of the Archives and Records Association 42, no. 2 (2021): 131–48, https://doi.org/10.1080/23257962.2020.1770709.