Autograph, London

Activating the Archive:
A Workshop on Preserving Community History

Saturday 23 May || 1 - 4pm

£10
In partnership with An Việt Archives

How can archives serve as a powerful tool for preserving community history?

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address

Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK

TIckets

Tickets for this event open on 27 April. Register with Eventbrite to be notified when tickets launch

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Materials

The ticket price for this event includes materials

about the workshop

In the series Tropism: Consequences of a Displaced Memory, Nhu Xuan Hua draws on her family’s photographic archive. The images document their early years in Belgium and France after migrating from Vietnam. Through digital manipulation, she creates images that hover between recognition and erasure. The works reflect on how a community's past can reverberate into the future.

Taking inspiration from Hua’s body of work, researchers Georgina Quach and Benjamin Tran will lead a workshop exploring the important role archives play in preserving community history during migration and cultural rupture. Quach writes about her family’s experience as refugees and the legacy of British resettlement camps whilst Tran documents the contemporary Vietnamese diaspora in London.

Attendees can expect to take part in reflective and practical exercises , drawing inspiration from the Nhu Xuan Hua’s exhibition at Autograph; Of Walking on Fire  and the researchers’ respective practices.  There will be refreshments available during the event including Bánh Cuốn which are Vietnamese rice rolls.

The ticket price for this event is £10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you, please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.

Led By

Georgina Quach

Georgina Quach is an award-winning journalist and editor at the Financial Times.

She was formerly a Scott Trust Bursary journalist at the Guardian and the International Journalists' Programme George Weidenfeld fellow in Berlin. She is also a co-founding director of New Tide, the UK's first dedicated network to journalists of East and Southeast Asian heritage.

As a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, she is inspired by the sacrifices and resilience of her family, and is co-authoring a community-led book to give voice to the families, fieldworkers and volunteers that shaped the legacy of a refugee resettlement centre in Hampshire.

Georgina is the founding co-director of An Việt Archives, the largest community archive of Vietnamese history in the UK that is dedicated to safeguarding and activating stories about Vietnamese and broader refugee movements to Britain.

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Benjamin Tran

Benjamin Tran is a researcher whose work focuses on the Vietnamese diaspora in the UK.

Drawing on his academic background in History and personal connection to the community, he explores how the legacies of the Vietnam War and migration continue to shape identity, memory, and belonging across generations.

He is involved in community and archival initiatives that aim to preserve Vietnamese histories and amplify lived experiences. Through events and cultural activities, he is particularly interested in creating spaces where history can be shared, experienced, and kept alive within the community.

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YOUR VISIT and Access

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Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.
Have any questions about your visit? Get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk

SAFETY MEASURES

Accessible VEnue

Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.

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Seating

This workshop will be seated.

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Step free

Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.

location

This event will take place in our Studio, on the ground floor.

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Refreshments

There will be light refreshments available throughout the event.

In Collaboration with An Việt Archives

This workshop series is in partnership with An Việt Archives - a Hackney based collection of community archives of Vietnamese history in the UK and beyond. The events build on An Việt's ongoing exploration of archives, memory work, history and knowledge-making.

Inspired by

Nhu Xuan Hua 
Of Walking on Fire

Free exhibition
Curated by Bindi Vora

Find out more

TICKETING POLICY

Autograph's events are popular and often sell out. We recommend booking a ticket in advance. If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 24 hours before the start of the event. You do not need to bring your paper ticket to the event.

The ticket price for this event is £10. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you please get in touch with Harriet at harriet@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.


PHOTOGRAPHy AT THIS EVENT

Please note that photography will take place at this event. Images from this event may be used by Autograph and external press for marketing and promotional use, including: printed and online publicity, social media, press releases, or other use. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let a member of staff know on the day.



Exhibition supported by

Banner image: Nhu Xuan Hua, The White dress, The Roses and the Black Window - Archive from the year'72[detail], 2017-2022. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. Copyright © Nhu Xuan Hua.
Led by: 1) Courtesy Goergina Quach. 2) Courtesy Benjamin Tran.
Visit and Access: Photograph by Kate Elliott.
In Collaboration With: All images Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. Copyright © Nhu Xuan Hua.1) New Chapter, Archive from the year '85[detail], 2026. 2) The White dress, The Roses and the Black Window - Archive from the year '72[detail], 2017-2022. 3) Sharp Tongue [detail], 2017. 4) Braindead, one pill makes you bigger[detail], 2016.
Inspired by: Nhu Xuan Hua, The one who couldn't talk [detail], 2021. © the artist.