This exhibition uses knitting to materialize stories of the autistic life course that might otherwise be overlooked. The items in this exhibit combine participatory textile making research with pieces reflecting the artist's own passion for knitting. In highlighting these experiences, this exhibition seeks to share the things that matter to autistic people and contribute to more accurate understandings of autism and neurodivergence. 

About the artist: Rebecca-Eli Long (they, them, theirs) is an autistic knitter and anthropologist. In demonstrating autistic meaning-making through textile narratives, Rebecca-Eli documents autistic culture and creativity. Through this work, they strive to make autistic futures–individual and collective–more possible.

The ALab is pleased to present its first event this Fall 2024, “Archives with a Purpose,” featuring public historian Dr. Teilhard “Ty” Paradela.

Archives with a Purpose
In this workshop, students will explore online digital archives that have been created for a particular academic, artistic, and/or advocacy purpose. They will learn how collections for these archives were organized and are exhibited to facilitate dialogue with specific audiences and to advance an overarching argument. Ultimately, the aim of this workshop is to foreground the possibilities and challenges of the online digital archive as a mode of engagement on contemporary issues.  

About the Speaker

Teilhard "Ty" Paradela (they/them) is a public historian, policy analyst, community archivist, and social dramaturge. They completed their PhD in History at the University of British Columbia. Since 2015, they have been the director of the Babaylan Archive Project, an initiative to gather, catalog, and digitize primary sources on the LGBTQI+ movement in the Philippines. 

For more information about the event or for questions, please email alab.info@purdue.edu.