Archive of Documentary Arts
About
The Archive of Documentary Arts is part of Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Its mission is to collect, promote, preserve, and provide access to audio, moving images, photography, and text from around the world related to the history of documentary arts.
The ADA works closely with the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke's MFA Program in Experimental & Documentary Arts, and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
News & Events
Now on view in the Rubenstein Photography Gallery:
Color Falls Down by Priya Kambli
“At age 18, a couple of years after the death of my parents, I moved from India to the United States with all my belongings in one suitcase.” Priya Kambli describes the journey as leaving her feeling “disconnected.” In Color Falls Down, Kambli explores this fissure through recontextualizing her family photographs and objects she brought with her from India. Read more »
Collection Awards
The Archive of Documentary Arts is pleased to announce the Collection Awardees for 2020-2021. We add to the archive four documentary projects focused on racial inequality in the United States covering segregation in housing, police violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the continued racism and violence toward Asian-Americans. Congratulations to: Tonika Lewis Johnson for her animated film, Folded Map Project, exploring urban segregation in Chicago; Naima Lowe, for her experimental film Birthmarks, a tale of fathers and daughters and a story from the 1967 Newark riots; Shawn Pridgen, for his photography of the Black Lives Matter movement; and Haruka Sakaguchi for her project I Will Not Stand Silent, a digital photography project combining portraits of Asian-Americans and the locations where they were harassed. We look forward to introducing each of these important works and their creators to you over the next couple of weeks.