Amy Goodwin
University of Plymouth
Exploring Heritage and Longevity: ‘Taking up Space’
Panel Chair: Heritage-Making
Panel: Archives
An archive is formed of fragmentary evidence but is afforded an authority of truth. An illustration can be formed of layers to contain multi-faceted narratives. The relationship between the archive and illustration was explored in my doctoral study (2016-2020), culminating in the crafting - both theoretically and in practice - of an archive as illustrated space to re-establish the identities of five fairground females. This doctoral study was underpinned by the illustration of heritage: in the voices being re-established, through the craft of signwriting to illustratively tell these stories and through its relationship to the archive, specifically the illustration of absence in the archive.
But, how can a doctoral project exist post-PhD? How can you enact longevity in a heritage-based PhD enquiry and ensure it continues to give voice to the under-represented community it worked to re-establish? Building on responses to a solo-exhibition of the archive as illustrated space (in 2021), this experimental paper will draw on modes enacted for participation in the (original) exhibition and installation contexts to create a new physical presence.
Within the doctoral enquiry (as with most instances regarding the female), negation is as important as presence: here, illustration acts as a device to articulate the ways in which the females are absence. Therefore, this paper will also explore the ways in which the illustration of absence continues to be key in stabilising the archive as illustrated space, specifically in regard to the voices of the fairground females in question (here, it is worth acknowledging that the fairground community has a liminal presence in the historical record and within this the females are further marginalised, thus doubly hidden). Together, how can physical presence and the illustration of absence evolve the act of ‘taking up space’ to ensure the longevity of the archive of illustrated space?
Dr. Amy Goodwin is a traditional signwriter and educator. Her work is heavily inspired by her upbringing travelling steam fairgrounds in the West Country and she now works to commission in the fairground, circus and steam heritage industries. This craft-based practice is complemented by her academic work— she teaches on BA Illustration at the University of Plymouth and MA Illustration (Online) at Falmouth University. Her work has been exhibited internationally and forms part of the collection at the Yale Centre for British Art. She is a Curatorial Trustee of The Fairground Heritage Trust.