UCSB Library Presents: Elena Yu: Weaving Ephemera (Art Installation)
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UC Santa Barbara, Library, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
UCSB Library presents an art installation by artist Elena Yu, exploring histories of the Ethnic and Gender Studies Collection (EGSC) and space in celebration of its 30th anniversary.
In Fall 2023, Yu was invited to create artworks in response to the history of the EGSC. The artist was drawn to two untouched back rooms – former staff offices left exactly as they were when vacated in 2022. Inside, decades of belongings sat frozen in time. In February 2024, the Library was preparing to renovate the rooms. Librarians had sorted and removed items to be sent to the University Archives and gave Yu access to use the remaining materials in her artworks. She was inspired by encountering ephemera related to the history of Ethnic Studies at UCSB and the day-to-day occupations of the library staff, including file cabinets full of book dust jackets and printed correspondences, and bulletin boards whose contents speak to the specific interests of former staff, who were charged with the upkeep of the collections and space.
The dust jackets Yu found were once part of EGSC displays created by EGSC staff. “A former Black Studies Library Assistant told me that these displays often led to conversations with students, which led to ongoing relationships, including some longtime intergenerational friendships that lasted beyond individuals’ times as students or staff,” Yu said.
In this exhibition, Yu reinterpreted those same dust jackets and other ephemera to make curtains. Some details are obscured or blurred, echoing how collective histories shift with time and institutional changes. By abstracting, enlarging, and translating the dust jackets and other documents relating to the history of the EGSC onto curtains, the artist extends the lifespan of both the objects and the histories they remain connected to.
This exhibition is part of a campus-wide arts partnership with the UCSB Arts Equity Commons (AEC) to support opportunities for engagement of faculty, students, and staff through the presence and practices of contemporary artists. AEC was established in 2022 as a consortium of the Department of Art, Department of History of Art and Architecture, and the Art Design & Architecture Museum through a systemwide grant from the UC Office of the President. The artist would like to thank Gary Colmenar, Angel Diaz, Alyce Harris, Sara Kelly, Marisol Ramos, Jonathan Rissmeyer, and Kim Yasuda for their support of this project.
