Reflexively Revisiting Three Participatory Cellphilm Archives

What happens to cellphilm archives produced in participatory visual research projects after the projects end? This chapter reflexively revisits three YouTube-based cellphilm archives one from Hong Kong (2015) and two from New Brunswick, Canada (2020, 2021) and suggests that although theorized as participatory, the three examples of archives explored in the chapter don’t quite do what I had set out for them to do. And yet, they offer something for participatory researchers interested in archiving and exhibition over time to think about in relation to the curatorial function of the participatory researcher, and how the archive remains and might be audienced beyond the scope of the project. These are important considerations as we think about what to do with the cellphilm archives that emerge from a project over longer periods of time.