LIVING ARCHIVE PROJECT (LAP)

LAP is a storytelling project based at PARC. Members, staff and artists in the community work together to remember the past, understand the present and dream for the future using art-based storytelling tools – writing, performance, photography and video.

People who have had contact with the psychiatric system or the (in)justice system – people who live in poverty or on the streets – often have their stories and their histories taken away from them and re-told by doctors, lawyers and cops. The Living Archive Project listens to and preserves the voices of the survivors of those systems. We think that everyone should have the right to tell their own stories in their own way.

The Living Archive Project looks to put the documents of your history as PARC members – the photos of outings and special events, the videos of camp and coffee houses – back into your hands.


Living Archive Project Digital Archive

On this site you will find the stories of PARC members and staff as well as LAP related events. However, there is more to be shared!

Come into PARC and use one of the drop-in computers to access photographs and video the document PARC's history (going live June 17th, 2011).

Stories


We are always telling stories – every version of history, every idea, perception, thought or explanation is a kind of story. There are many ways of telling the same stories and many different stories can emerge from the same events. Author Thomas King once wrote, “the truth about stories is that’s all we are.”

Stories make the world. People in power tell stories to keep other people down – but we can tell our own stories back. Only you should get to tell your story; only you know what you need, what you need to say, and what’s true about you.

Here, you will find a collection of stories from PARC members and PARC staff. Some of these stories are about things that happened at PARC or about the history of PARC as an organization. These are stories of fortitude, strength and resilience. They are our origin stories, our superhero stories, our stories of memorial.

To read these stories, just click on a name from the list below. If you would like to have a story included here, you can click the link at the bottom of this page and type it out so a member of LAP can put it online. If you don’t want to do that, you could always find a LAP member or see Griffin, who is staff, and tell your story aloud so it can be typed up. We’re always looking for more stories.

Click Here to view the Stories Collection

To view specific stories, select one of the links below

Storyteller 1
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Storyteller 2
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Storyteller 3
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