Image: Hannah O’Shea performing ‘A Litany for Women Artists’ and miscellaneous Women’s Art Library slides, Goldsmiths University, London.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Afterlife of The Clock Wife, Part 1: Archiving Workshop with Althea Greenan and Ellie Porter
Inspired by our recently closed exhibition The Clock Wife—which centred the work of four artist estates and the legacies now in their care—this new series of events is an attempt to think about the life of an exhibition beyond the duration of its presentation. Much like how the work of the executors ultimately began at an end, the three workshops comprising this series are an acknowledgement that even though this exhibition might be over, the labours it both celebrates and occasions are always ongoing—and alive with lessons still to be learned.
This first workshop will focus on archiving itself, bringing together different experiences of the artist archive, from its beginnings as an artist’s project to its future as a record informing research and innovation. Through introducing different forms of archival practice, we will consider first steps, the importance of estate planning and the importance of letting go. Archivists Althea Greenan and Ellie Porter will bring examples of archive materials currently in the collection of the Women’s Art Library at Goldsmiths University and in turn invite participants to bring something that documents an artist’s practice that they would be happy to share to the group. Greenan and Porter will also provide folders as a starting point towards establishing a documentation archive of these materials in the Women’s Art Library.
Spots limited, e-mail info@a-tub.org to secure your place.
Accessibility
This event will take place in English.
Biographies
DR ALTHEA GREENAN works in Special Collections and Archives at Goldsmiths, University of London and curates the Women’s Art Library (WAL) collection. She works with artists and academic researchers to help realise new projects based on the collection that often explore ideas around the feminist archive. She has written on the work of women artists and the WAL since the 1980s.
ELLIE PORTER is Head of Archives and Estates at A/POLITICAL. She was previously Head of Programme at Art360 Foundation which supported artists and their families with the creation of archives. Ellie has also managed Gifts and Bequests at Art Fund, transferring private art collections to public museums. Independently, she has organised events for the Whitechapel Gallery and curated programmes for the British Art Network with Flat Time House.
The WOMEN’S ART LIBRARY (WAL) is a collection of photographic, ephemeral, personal and published art documentation initiated by women artists in the late 1970s. Thriving as an artists’ organization and publishing a magazine until 2002, the collection was then gifted to Goldsmiths and forms part of its Special Collections.
Support
This event has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Pictoright Fonds.
Part of the exhibition