The Living Archive: Creating a Person-less Portrait

June 28, 2025
1-4pm, at FLATS, 2402 Montrose

What is the fascination with archives? What does it do for those of us who have not found ourselves within history, and how can it function in a personal context? How can archival practices help us tell personal stories when images are lost, destroyed, or never taken?

Join artist Ariana Gomez and FLATS for an afternoon of conversation and community-centered creativity. Together, we’ll explore the idea of a living archive: a personal collection that speaks to the presence of people or places through memory, material, and creating tangibility from intangible sources.

Through discussion and hands-on creation, we’ll ask:

How do you create a portrait without a person? How can memory and landscape tell their own stories?

Participants are invited to bring:

– Photographs you’ve taken or archival imagery you’re drawn to

– A notebook or journal

– Collage materials like magazine clippings, drawing tools, or paint

This workshop is open to all—no experience needed, just a desire to create and reflect.

FLATS programming is sponsored by Fresh Arts and is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.