Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive, Draft 4

Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive, Draft 4 arrives at Aspex Portsmouth as the final stop on its national tour, bringing together the work of artist and activist Tessa Boffin (1960-1993) with newly commissioned work by contemporary artists Sophie Mak-Schram and Leah McLaine.

Working across photography, writing, performance and activism, Boffin challenged dominant narratives around gender, sexuality and visibility. Her practice remains urgently relevant to contemporary queer and feminist communities, continuing to raise questions about representation, identity and whose stories are preserved.

Responding to Boffin’s work, this exhibition explores the archive as more than a place to preserve the past. Instead, it considers how archives can become active, generative and collective spaces for revisiting histories, creating connections and imagining new possibilities.

Through an extensive period of archival research, Mak-Schram and McLaine have developed new work in direct response to Boffin’s images, teaching and politics. Their contributions sit alongside Boffin’s own work, drawing on collections held by the University for the Creative Arts, The Estate of Tessa Boffin / The Gupta+Singh Archives and Hales Gallery (London and New York).

This project is grounded in a collective, intersectional approach to curatorial research, led by four emerging curators whose practices are rooted in queer and feminist frameworks: Polly Wright (Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne), Jazz Swali (BACKLIT, Nottingham), Ricardo Reverón Blanco (Aspex Portsmouth, Portsmouth), and Danit Ariel (Photoworks).

Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive, Draft 4 is co-commissioned by Devonshire Collective, Aspex Portsmouth, BACKLIT and Photoworks.

Supported by Jenni Crain Foundation, The National Archives, Paul Mellon Foundation and Arts Council England. With thanks to The Estate of Tessa Boffin / The Gupta+Singh Archives, Hales Gallery (London and New York) and University for the Creative Arts Special Collections.