This year's SEAPAVAA 28th Annual Conference was organised on an elaborate scale, in Solo, Indonesia. SEAPAVAA (South East Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archives Association) is an association of organisations and individuals in Southeast Asia and the Pacific who are involved in audiovisual archiving. The association aims to preserve and provide access to the region's audiovisual heritage. SEAPAVAA organises an annual conference to allow its members to share and exchange knowledge and information about their works in order to further the cause of audiovisual archiving in the region.
Our team members were privileged to have been able to attend this year's annual conference held on the 10th-14th of June, 2024. It was also the first time that The Northeast India AV Archive voted at the general assembly of SEAPAVAA. They were able to present and share their work at the archive and learn about the works of other archivists and archives in South-east Asia, the Pacific and Australia.
At the symposium, our curator, D Junisha Khongwir made a presentation entitled ‘Unveiling Northeast India’s Oral History Through Archiving and Dissemination’. Dr Etawanda Saiborne made a presentation on ‘Preservation of Traditional Healing Practices and Knowledge of Traditional Herbal Medicine of the Khasis through Archiving’ and Phindarishisha Angelia Kharkamni made a presentation on ‘Developing a Collaborative Model for Sustainability and Archival Practice in The Northeast India Audiovisual Archive.’
The 'Workshop on Disaster Preparedness and Discovery' was a hands-on learning opportunity to work with archived audiovisual materials that had been affected by hypothetical flash floods. The attendees were also instructed about ways to recover and treat materials that have been affected or damaged in natural disasters like earthquakes, fires and storms. Apart from the treatment of disaster-stricken materials, the recovery and restoration of materials kept in buildings that are structurally vulnerable, have poor plumbing or those affected by long-term detrimental environmental conditions like high humidity, dust and heavy rains.
The conference included trips to various archives and museums in Indonesia including the Dinas Perpustakaan dan Arsip Daerah in Yogyakarta and Lokananta Museum in Surakarta, where the attendees could engage with the culture and history of Indonesia that were displayed and curated and also learn about their archival practice in memory institutions.
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