Matchmaking in the Archive: 19 Conversations with the Dead and 3 Encounters with Ghosts (Q+ Public) (Paperback)
Though today’s LGBTQ people owe a lot to the generations who came before them, their historical inheritances are not always obvious.
Working with the archives of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society, artist E.G. Crichton decided to do something to bridge this generation gap. She selected 19 innovative LGBTQ artists, writers, and musicians, then paired each of them with a deceased person whose personal artifacts are part of the archive.
Including 25 pages of vivid images, Matchmaking in the Archive documents this monumental creative project and adds essays by Jonathan Katz, Michelle Tea, and Chris Vargas, who describe their own unique encounters with the ghosts of LGBTQ history. Together, they make the archive come alive in remarkably intimate ways.
Working with the archives of the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society, artist E.G. Crichton decided to do something to bridge this generation gap. She selected 19 innovative LGBTQ artists, writers, and musicians, then paired each of them with a deceased person whose personal artifacts are part of the archive.
Including 25 pages of vivid images, Matchmaking in the Archive documents this monumental creative project and adds essays by Jonathan Katz, Michelle Tea, and Chris Vargas, who describe their own unique encounters with the ghosts of LGBTQ history. Together, they make the archive come alive in remarkably intimate ways.
E.G. CRICHTON is an interdisciplinary artist living in San Francisco, California. Her projects have been exhibited in Asia, Australia, Europe, and across the United States. Crichton is a Professor Emerita at the University of California Santa Cruz, and served as Artist-in-Residence at the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society from 2008 to 2014.
"E.G. Crichton has created a testament to lineage and liberation for all of us who know that diving into the past is also simultaneous discovery into our own psyche. This is a touching study of how identity, art, and lineage tie into the physical artifacts of our lives. Riveting and a true pleasure to read."
— Susie Bright
"E.G. Crichton's Matchmaking has shown us wonderful new ways of bringing together archives, history, and art. In this account of her work, the living and the dead, objects and records, and people mingle promiscuously, bringing new worlds to light."
— Graham Willett
“Matchmaking in the Archive connects today’s artists and queer ancestors…After reading it, there is a certain and distinct pleasure in a time jump, in nonlinear thinking, in reaching back and forth across decades as though all people from all time, living and dead, are sitting at one table, sharing a meal, passing dishes round and round, sharing and tasting the same things together.…If you have any interest in the history and lives of our LGBTQ ancestors, then, yes, this is a book I recommend for you."
— Nico Hall
— Susie Bright
"E.G. Crichton's Matchmaking has shown us wonderful new ways of bringing together archives, history, and art. In this account of her work, the living and the dead, objects and records, and people mingle promiscuously, bringing new worlds to light."
— Graham Willett
“Matchmaking in the Archive connects today’s artists and queer ancestors…After reading it, there is a certain and distinct pleasure in a time jump, in nonlinear thinking, in reaching back and forth across decades as though all people from all time, living and dead, are sitting at one table, sharing a meal, passing dishes round and round, sharing and tasting the same things together.…If you have any interest in the history and lives of our LGBTQ ancestors, then, yes, this is a book I recommend for you."
— Nico Hall