Over the past couple of weeks, our ASTU class has had the opportunity to work within the Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC) archives located in UBC. It has been quite an eye opening experience, being able to work so closely with the archives and holding pieces of history at our fingertips. During this time of research, I have had the privilege of exploring a small fraction of the Chung collection which exhibits “early British Columbia history, immigration and settlement, particularly of Chinese people in North America, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company”.

Given the vastness of material within the RBSC I have only really looked into a fraction of the Chung Collection (Box 122 and Box 100). While looking through the different folders I came across many legal and formal documents such as records, insurance claims, business documents etc. But every now and then I would find a personal letter, children’s school notes and some photographs or pictures. It is through exploring these more intimate materials that I begin to try and piece together what these individuals would look like or their story. By seeing pieces of actual history, it seems as though these archives are telling a story, perhaps and autobiography of certain individuals but it is up to us (the audience) to “fill in the gaps” as Rodney G.S. Carter would say. I continued to rummage through the archival materials and piece together a story for some of the individuals portrayed in the archives. The closer I came to completing a story of an individual I found myself hesitating because there is so much information that is missing from this person’s life, and that what I perceived to be his/her story may in fact be far from the truth.

This is where I began to look at the connections between our studies of autobiography and the archives…

One of the most interesting things about studying autobiography and the archives is the parallels between the two genres. Autobiographies are written and provided to the audience, as is. The information is being described to us by author, we are to trust that he/she is telling the truth because they are creating within the genre of autobiography. Take for example our studies of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Dave Egger and Achak’s What is the What and of course Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill. Although they disclose that these biography themed works are based off personal experience and memory, we as the audience are to trust that the information is true. Now looking at the archives, the material within the collects are artifacts, they are tangible pieces of history and truth emanates with this institution. However, as noted in Carter’s article there can be a level of discrepancies within the archives themselves. Therefore a major parallel between the role of autobiographers and archivists in which they hold the power to alter the story. Stories such as What is the What bring into question the accuracy of the events in Achak Deng’s life, and whether or not these events were manipulated to gain popularity. Or, if the Chung Collection never made it to the RBSC, how could we know the real history behind the marginalized Chinese population of Canada? It is undeniable that both autobiographers and archivists hold great power in shaping how personal and societal memory is depicted. Although, there may be instances of scepticism we can only continue to rely on these individuals to uphold their obligation of sharing the truth.

I am very certain that “Autobio-music-o-graphy” is not an actual word, but one that I made up to introduce the topic of my new blog post to (hopefully) capture you readers.

To start off the semester, my ASTU class (Art Studies) is bringing together the genre of autobiography and archiving. Archiving being the collecting of media to restore and preserve history, and applying this field as a means to develop one’s biography whether it be a testimony of an individual or a collective. We were asked to read Diamond Grill by local poet Fred Wah who explores issues of race, family and his life through a combination of poems and archives. This text is extraordinary in the way it is presented – as Wah labels it – “a bio-text”. “Biotext” crossed with “biofiction” allows for Wah to depict his life story without “being hijacked by ready-made generic expectations such as the novel, autobiography, and life writing” (Diamond Grill, Wah, p.184). This concept of biotext, although it may seem a bit avant-garde, the style may be more noticeable in other areas of the arts. This train of thought is what led me to my crazy word “Autobio-music-o-graphy” by applying the concept of biotext and archiving to the subject of music.

I did not think much of this concept until my partner and I were having a discussion about music over dinner. He was explaining to me how you can see a progression in an artist’s life through their songs, changes in musical styles and the albums they release. This aspect allowed a new perspective of ways music can be seen as blend between archiving and autobiography of a certain time in one’s life.

In our class discussion about archiving, we concluded that archivists play a key role in how both individual and collective history and social memory can be depicted. What gets saved and what is left behind is extremely significant. I am now thinking of how artists in the music industry may play the role of an archivist and an autobiographer when it comes to developing their own music.

Artists generally have an array of written songs and lyrics needed to compose an album with. Many of these albums are a direct representation of one’s life journey during that precarious time in their life. The release of an album marks a point in time while songs within the album may portray a story the artist is trying to tell. This is where the artist plays the role of an archivist, because it is during that specific time period they are selectively choosing which songs gets published and which are abandoned. Meanwhile, each song may depict points of the artist’s life and attribute to their own autobiography. Although lyrically the songs word for word may not stem from actual events, they do represent genuine emotion. In addition, these songs can act as archives themselves, they are presented as a primary source and generally portray a first person perspective as an individual or a group.

I am hoping with this new-found knowledge to delve into music and find the potential parallels between specific artists and albums and how they act as archive and autobiography.