These LGBTQ+ archives disappear, a memory at a time
Trans memory The Argentine archive began as a Facebook package in which friends could re -connect in the 1980s and 1990s. It was successful and the digital space was soon filled with anecdotes, letters and chronicles. Then, the photographer Sisi Stales “suggested its expansion beyond the anecdotes”.
Was the big leap to the front of the exhibition This one left, this one was killed, the one died (Esta Se Fue, an Esta La Mataron, Esta Murriy) Includes intimate portraits of friends in prison, exile or otherwise absent. Soon afterwards, the archive team began to dream of creating a bigger presence.
Today, Nastri is working with archive managers, who generally witness larger in the history of society, as they archive, protect and digitally. For them, going to work is a resistance action. In Argentina, 9,000 people (since 2021) have modified their national identity documents to reflect their gender identity. People between the ages of 40 and 79 accounted for only 17 % of the figure with people over 60.
The Argentine Trans Memory Archive has more than 100 documentary collections with 25,000 cases from 1930 to early 2000: photos, videos, audio recording, letters, brochures, posters, press releases, police cases, magazine articles, identity documents and personal documents. Their work is provided through projects, book sales and monthly assistance.
On the website, there are images of childhood, exile, activity, letters and postcards, carnival celebrations, private parties, birthday, sexual work, daily life, shows, portraits, as well as the professional life of people. The documentary archive that PIA has now lived alongside 40 similar archives lives in Latin America.
At the end of June, during the winter of Argentina, Hernandez tells me in a video call that future generations should be aware of their repression. His generation survived the harassment of the police during dictatorship. Without this archive, Naster believes that not only is an important part of history disappears, but there are many moments of happiness. “What this community has is strong family bonds,” she says. “They have a sad history but have been shared in a very happy way.”
