Sun Setting over the Arafura Sea and Other Opportunities: Working with Joe Gumbula

Abstract

Abstract Archives are full of emotional connections between records and researchers that can span surprise, delight, anger, indifference and engagement. In this short reflection, I share my stories of the archival and personal photographs that connected me and Joe Gumbula. It was not always easy for Joe to be a conduit between two cultures, to bring people and collections together over time and space, and to balance his fluency in Yolŋu knowledge against the archive’s unfamiliar institutional processes. Through our collaborations, I learned key lessons for professional archivists about building trust, connections, follow-through, presence and listening that support the active management of historical images.