TACLA

About

TACLA use the phrase “documenting commons” to frame our activities, which include publishing critical writing to activate creative work for archival creation, working with local organizations to provide mentorship for emerging artists, and engaging in industry conversations on how to better support emerging Asian writers looking to start their careers. 

TACLA reorients documentation as a “living” and active process and strives to meet these gaps through lateral engagement between institutions, organizations and across pan-Asian communities.

ThreeFold Mandate

To Witness: To animate knowledge in nonlinear and flexible ways to empower, educate and strengthen communities

To Coalesce: To connect and bring pan-Asian artists in dialogue, creation and resistance

To Keep: To imaginatively remember histories, presents, and stories of pan-Asian Canadian artist communities

Principles

TACLA is committed to working collaboratively in decolonial praxis and radical imagination, which means critically working in solidarity with and toward pan-Asian communities.

We understand that allyship requires a spirit of humility, listening, and a willingness to be open and held accountable to build relationships communally through the many different histories, cultures and positionalities that make the pan Asian diaspora on Turtle Island.

ABout Our name

Formerly “The Asian Canadian Living Archive”, TACLA now goes by an acronym with no fixed referent, to reflect the political and narrative grapplings of the Asian diasporic community.