Marcia Harvey Isaksson

Words by: Marcia Harvey Isaksson Published on: 14 March, 2023

What is your relationship to your family archive: photographs, films, sound collections, memories, oral histories?

Due to my role as ”vaTete” or ”uBabekazi” (father’s sister/female father) to my brothers’ children, I have taken it upon myself to be the custodian of family history. A role I take very seriously.

You have shared with us visual material connected to your family. What does this material represent for you?

Developing and colourising the original brought my family to life again; representing a continuum, all my ancestors live on through me.

A picture of Black couple posing for a portrait. The woman holds a baby on her lap
Date: 1951. Photographer: Unknown.

Provide a short description of the people in the visual material and the context if possible.

My Ambuya (Grandma), my Sekuru (Grandpa) and my infant Mother. Taken in Zimbabwe early 1951.

A negative of a picture of a couple taking a portrait. the woman holds a baby on her lap.
Date: 1951. Photographer: Unknown.

What does a Black Archive mean to you?

An invaluable resource that anchors and guides us.

About Marcia:

I’m a black Southern African, born 1975 in Harare, Zimbabwe. I have been living in Stockholm since 1999. I’m an artist, curator, exhibition designer and interior architect.

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