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buildyourarchive

@buildyourarchive

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A memory work lab where Black Women Artists build their archives in real time.

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COMMUNITY WORKSHOP x
Dear Kathleen: Writing Black Power, Coalition and Love
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October 17, 2026
10:30am,-1pm EST
Auburn Avenue Research Library
101 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta,GA
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In recognition of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense we are gathering together to reflect where we are now and write new visions of a world that is possible. As the Communications Secretary for the BPP, Kathleen Cleaver used press releases, posters, leaflets, articles, and other media opportunities to communicate a crafted agenda of social change, one that focused on the health and safety of Black communities. That agenda was also about working in coalition with the Puerto Rican Young Lords, the Chicano Brown Berets, the Peace and Freedom Party, and all those posing a “challenge to the way our world was organized.” Before the party, she wrote letters to friends and family to stay connected as her family traveled around the world. After the party, she stayed in touch with friends and comrades through the written word.
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Just as Kathleen Cleaver used her pen to inform, connect, and build, this intergenerational conversation asks, “How can we collectively write a more just future, beginning with connecting with each other?”
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Join us for a collective conversation where we share together and partner in pairs and small groups for a letter-writing exercise.
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BRING YOUR FAVORITE PENS
FREE W/ RSVP @ the 🔗 in the bio
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The World(s) She Made: Composing The Radical Lives of Kathleen Neal Cleaver is supported in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art | @terraamericanart by @buildyourarchive

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2 days ago

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP x
There's No Better Time Than Now: Composing The Everyday Photograph
📸⏳Facilitated by John Stephens, photographer and co-curator
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September 26, 2026
1p,-3pm EST
Auburn Avenue Research Library
101 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta,GA
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Every photograph in this exhibition began as an ordinary moment someone decided was worth keeping. This workshop starts there. Participants first move through the gallery guided by John Stephens (@jas_photo), pausing at two or three images that reveal something beyond the frame.
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This historic photo walk will make stops at:
Apex Museum
Atlanta Daily World
Municipal Market
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Participants will learn to identify the markers of trust and familiarity that distinguish a candid, relationship-based photograph from a posed one, and apply that recognition to make an authentic photograph of an everyday moment with a partner.
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BRING YOUR CAMERA & A FRIEND
FREE W/ RSVP @ the 🔗 in the bio
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The World(s) She Made: Composing The Radical Lives of Kathleen Neal Cleaver is supported in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art | @terraamericanart by @buildyourarchive

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2 months ago

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP x The Role of Friendship the Kathleen Cleaver Archive 📸⏳presented by @fotos_y_recuerdos
Facilitated by Stephanie Alvarado, artist and co-curator
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September 8, 2026
6-8pm EST
VIRTUAL
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We will gather to discuss and engage with how the Kathleen Cleaver archive came to be through the engagement of friends and family.
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Our guiding question: How does friendship become revolutionary when engaging in memory work and archives?
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In order to share the story of the archive and the importance of preserving the photographic archives of our living Black women revolutionaries as a form of community building, participants will create a digital collage of photos of them and their friends as a participatory archive reflecting the group.
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BRING YOUR PHOTOS, MEMORIES AND JOURNALS TO WORK WITH
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FREE W/ RSVP @ the link in the bio
Featured 📸 by Stephen Shames
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The World(s) She Made: Composing The Radical Lives of Kathleen Neal Cleaver is supported in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art | @terraamericanart by @buildyourarchive

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2 months ago

Dear Memory Worker,
I called yo phone, you ain’t pick up 🎶
🔗💾🔗
You answered this call the first time before you knew that was the title. And you return because you know the responsibility is for you to be prepared to share the stories, activate the information and pass it along to the next generation.
🖥️📀🎞️💾
🔗 is in #BUILDYOURARCHIVE channel + newsletter. by @buildyourarchive

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3 months ago

ANNOUNCING: The World(s) She Made: Composing The Radical Lives of Kathleen Neal Cleaver

Kathleen Neal Cleaver, one of the most photographed icons of 1960s activism, is a name and image synonymous with captivatingly militant Black Power. Audiences might be familiar with the height of the Black Panther Party actions and the circulation of Cleaver’s image as well as her essential, powerful words, but what do we know of the complex arc of her life? Cleaver grew up in the Black activist intellectual circles of the mid-twentieth century. She became one of the most recognizable leaders of the Black Power movement in the United States and abroad. But equally enthralling and impactful, she has lived, often simultaneously, as educator, legal scholar, speaker, wife, mother, and grandmother. And now she is giving the public a glimpse into the many worlds she has moved through, advocated for, and built for her communities.

Co-curated by: Stephanie Alvarado, Dr. Lia T. Bascomb, Sierra King and John Stephens

Supported in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art | @terraamericanart

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday July 30, 2026, 7PM EST
Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History | @aarl_atl

101 AUBURN AVE NE, ATLANTA, GA 30303
Atlanta,GA

Follow @theworldsshemade for more and stay up to date via the 🔗 in bio. taken in Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History by @buildyourarchive

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4 months ago

Final Week to Register for Lost & Found: Community Archiving Workshop with Sierra King

The stories we carry, both shared and unique, deserve to be preserved. Many of those stories, including ones we may have thought were lost, can often be rediscovered within our personal photographic archives.

In this hands-on community workshop, participants will work with found photographs to learn best practices for preservation, gain insight into photographic processes, and develop skills in archival description writing. Join Sierra King, founder and principal archivist of Build Your Archive, for an intimate and engaging session focused on documenting, caring for, and preserving personal histories.

Registration includes an archival memory box, archiving toolkit, and zine. A package valued at over $35.

Hit the link in bio to register today! by @buildyourarchive

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4 months ago

#TodayInHistory The story of Patricia Stephens Due And Priscilla Stephens Kruize in #ThePhiladelphiaTribune
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During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Kruize and her sister, Patricia Stephens Due, led the first Jail-In of the nation as part of the Student Sit-In Movement, refusing to pay their fines and spending 49 days in jail with other students from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. Their efforts as student leaders of their chapter of CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) helped topple segregation in Florida. In 1961, she was kicked in the stomach by a police officer while she showed support for the Freedom Riders.
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Priscilla Stephens Kruize is the sister of Walter Stephens Jr. and Grand-Aunt to Founder and Principal Archivist Sierra King. The extended family led by her neice Tananarive Due (@tananarivedue) is currently raising funds to support her care in Assisted Living and storage fees of the late Black Heritage Museum in Florida.
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You can read more about their civil rights story in FREEDOM IN THE FAMILY: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER MEMOIR OF THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS. The link is in the bio. Share + Donate to your networks. by @buildyourarchive

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5 months ago

COMMUNITY WORKSHOP X @atlantacenterforphotography

📸✨✍🏽🌱
The stories we carry, similar and different, are worth taking care of. Many of those stories, ones we may have deemed lost, can be found in our personal photographic archives.

In this hands-on community workshop, we’ll use found photographs to explore best care practices, photographic processes, and description writing. Join Sierra King, founder and principal archivist of Build Your Archive, for an intimate session on documenting and preserving your personal memories.

Your seat includes an archival memory box, archiving toolkit, and zine, valued at over $35. by @buildyourarchive

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5 months ago

ACP is excited to announce our 2026 Summer Workshop Schedule!

Swipe to explore an incredible lineup of workshops running from June through August.

Hit the link in bio to register and learn more about each workshop! taken in Atlanta Center for Photography by @buildyourarchive

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5 months ago

ONE PHOTO AT A TIME @ 5th Annual AUC Art Collective
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The symposium is free and open to public, the workshop is limited seating.
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It has been an honor to continue to share this journey
and practice with you.
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Join me this Friday March 27 at the AUC Art Collective Symposium: Archival Activism, to begin or continue your archival practice.
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Yall know newsletter subscribers get the links. Go sign up because seating it limited. ✍🏽✨ by @buildyourarchive

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7 months ago

Celebrate beloved dancer, educator, actor, and now ancestor Carmen de Lavallade at A Celebration of Life for Carmen. All are welcome to bring an offering for the altar - created in honor of all of our ancestors with archival materials curated by Sierra King.
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Join anytime during the event for screenings of dance footage from the archive, zine making, and dessert.

Free and open to all.
The Anchor
645 Grant St. SE
Atlanta,GA
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Sound bath:
3:15-4pm
Crystal bowls, chimes, and cello by Anicka Austin, Chris Gravely, and Saira Raza
Feel free to bring a mat, bolster or blanket for the bath. Post-bath reflection and chant by Anicka Austin and PhaeMonae.

Screenings:
3-5pm
A Time to Dance, “Ethnic Dance: Round Trip to Trinidad,” with Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade, 1958
The United States Steel Hour, “A Drum is a Woman,” composed by Duke Ellington, performances by Carmen de Lavallade, 1957
Films courtesy of Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library.

Zine Making:
3-5pm
Create a zine for a loved one and give them flowers while they live. Supplies, prompts, and stamps to mail your zine will be available. by @buildyourarchive

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7 months ago

WEDNESDAY 🔄 Join us at Haugabrooks Gallery for the “let the circle be unbroken” closing reception and artist talk, featuring artists D’juan Rollins, jasmine nicole williams, Jordan Matthew and Tim Short. We’re also celebrating curator Sierra King, and the culmination of the 2024-2025 Mtamanika Youngblood Curator-in-Residence Program.

📅 Wednesday, January 28th

10:00am - 1:00pm - Gallery Hours
7:15pm - Artist Talk
8:15pm - Soundscape w/ DJ Geexella
9:00pm - Thank You and Final Regards

Haugabrooks Gallery
364 Auburn Ave NE
Atlanta, GA30312

See more on “let the circle be unbroken” via our 🔗 in bio.

📸: Flyer by Sierra King, images by Keamber Pearson @southernsiren__ taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @buildyourarchive

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9 months ago