In association with camra and collaborating curator Arjun Shankar, Ethnographic Terminalia presents:
REACH in Ambler (REACH = Resources for Education and Action for Community Health)
The borough of Ambler is a small community located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1881, the Keasbey and Mattison Company, relocating from nearby Philadelphia, opened factories in Ambler to begin manufacturing asbestos in the form of roof tiles, insulation and brake linings. The production of the fibrous mineral quickly became the central economic activity and identifying characteristic of this “factory town.” For almost one hundred years Ambler was an international locus for the production of asbestos (1880 to 1970), passing from one company to another until the harmful health effects of asbestos became widely known and factories subsequently closed their doors. Leaving in its wake was not only a massive environmental hazard and but also a deeply wounded community. The industrial legacy of asbestos production still greatly impacts residents today.
Based on in-depth interviews, oral histories, guided tours, and field research our first filmic product seeks to capture some of the initial questions at the heart of the project around governmentality, community engagement, and decision-making. Additionally, we strive to represent the multiperspectival realities, experiences and histories of Ambler and its residents around perceptions of perceived risk vs. actual risk, environmental justice, fear, social responsibility and community/civic engagement and communication. The project pivots on critical reflection that explores the boundaries between methodology, empiricism and research reflexivity as they converge in visual media. Our presentation includes a 5-minute filmlet on loop on a single screen with 1 set of headphones and 1 chair. The filmlet introduces Ambler, the REACH project and some emerging themes.
Film/Video
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The Bureau of Memories: Archives and Ephemera is a thematic reflection on the archive and its discontents. Washington’s identity as the seat of American political power is amplified through its role as the locus of its own memorialization. Where there is history, there is haunting. By drawing on the archive’s unnerving, uncanny, and ephemeral specters, this exhibition is an effort to re-imagine and reposition archives as sites which not only have the capacity to produce and contest historical memory, but also generate significant gaps and blind spots.