As part of the ‘Our Screen Heritage’ open call for footage, the OSH team spoke to Callum Anderson who deposited his work with SASE for long term preservation.

Can you introduce yourself and the work which you have deposited with SASE as part of Our Screen Heritage? 

My name is Callum Anderson, and I am a Brighton based contemporary dance artist-scholar, specialising in screendance. My dance practice is influenced both by digital technologies and their application to dance, as well as representations of masculinities – and specifically queer masculinities – in dance and onscreen. My research in this field is driven by my identity as a gay man, and queer artist.   I have deposited fragments to Screen Archive South East, a screendance work that I made in January 2021. fragments combines recorded spoken word taken from interviews I conducted with people identifying across the LGBTQIA+ acronym, with movement which I developed in response to these recordings. fragments was supported by the Sussex Dance Network through the ‘Plus Commission’, an open call for LGBTQIA+ identifying artists living in Sussex, which looked to address the underrepresentation of LGBTQIA+ people in the dance sector.Alongside my dance practice, I also work in marketing for a local arts charity. 

Why did you decide to deposit this particular piece of work with SASE?
I decided to deposit fragments with Screen Archive South East, as I feel that there are a lot of queer stories missing from the history books, and while my film highlights a variety of LGBTQIA+ personal experiences, depositing it would allow those stories the opportunity to reach more people.  From an older gentleman who grew up when being gay was still illegal, lived through the AIDS epidemic and saw one of the first UK Pride protests, or a married lesbian couple who are navigating raising children, it was these stories that I wanted to tell as part of my work. When I saw the call out from SASE, I felt that my film resonated with work that they were doing, and I am honoured that they are able to preserve it, and the snapshot of queer experiences that it holds. 

Have you ever deposited anything with an archive before? And if not, why did you choose to do so now? 

I have never deposited anything in an archive before. This is because I have never really felt that anything I have ‘belonged’ to an archive. The opportunity to deposit something with SASE is amazing – they have made me feel seen, both as an artist and as an LGBTQIA+ person, when so many institutions feel unapproachable. 

I would like to thank everyone at SASE who have been so helpful in advising me at every step of the depositing process.