Dr Harris from King\u2019s College London will present findings from her recent collaborative project, Us and Them.<\/em><\/p>\n The community history project unpacked the representation of disabled people in Victorian asylum photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cUs and Them <\/em>is a public history project and artistic collaboration exploring physical and intellectual disability and mental illness, in the past and present, to open out wider community conversations,\u201d said Dr Harris.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n She was inspired to begin the research for several reasons, including the fact she lives on the site of several former psychiatric and disability institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis recent history is conveniently forgotten by most residents and the stunning Victorian and Edwardian photographic portraits we have uncovered and reused through this project make our former neighbours\u2019 experiences and faces, more memorable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey become real and present to us now, which sharpens our responsibility to ensure that they are given dignity in death.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Harris said the event will be a rich presentation which encourages attendees to think about what it means to reuse asylum photography and to restage historical photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope people will be encouraged to ask questions about the precarious and porous boundary, perhaps more a sliding spectrum, between ableism and disability, especially if we consider our own vulnerabilities across the lifecycle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also hope to open out key questions about public history and heritage, including the role of re-enactment, the emotions, and the haptic and the ludic in communicating the power and conveying a passion for the past.\u201d<\/p>\n The event will be on Thursday 11 July from 5pm. Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased on the Sovereign Hill website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DISCUSS Victorian asylum photography in the context of disability activism at an event held at the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections next month. History Matters: Picturing the Past will feature Dr Alana Harris in conversation with Dr Amanda Nettelbeck. Dr Harris from King\u2019s College London will present findings from her recent collaborative project, Us […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/07\/20231110EBPFreewheel_67145.jpg\")
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