Works&Projects

Synopsis:

Persistent Visions is a three-screen installation that questions the nature, status and classification of archive collections within the Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol.

Focusing on forty years worth of amateur movie-making material from all over the world, Erika Tan illuminates hidden meanings, unearthing personal histories occluded by the grander structures of empire. The tensions between foreground and background narratives are highlighted through editing and image manipulation.

The piece uses super 8 film shot by individuals and families, who were once stationed in the former British Colonies, and held by the archive. The filmic explorations cover vast regions, from Malaysia to Kenya and The Suez Canal to Hong Kong. Cine cameras were used to record a personal response to family and working life in a particular place and time. By interrogating the vaults of stored material culture Tan explores the latent meanings and messages, unearthing personal and subjective histories hidden by the grander structures of empire and questioning the 'inherent' content of the medium of archival film.

Much of the original material was donated to the archives by family collections and the following families gave permission for their material to be used for this project. The collections used are: Boles, Dalyell, Duke, Fisher, Fromings, Gaskell, Hartgill, Harley, Hawley, Hayburn, Knowles, Lorimer, Morrison, Selkirk, Silk, Vernede, Wicksteed and Wilson.