Fonds consists of 15 boxes containing raw material and finished works by Richard Fung, as well as
works by other artists and filmmakers collected by Fung over the years in various video formats. The
fonds also contains amateur footage of events attended by Fung, recordings of television broadcasts
…
210 video cassettes (124 VHS, 2 S
VHS-C, 7 U-matic, 15 U-matic S, 1
Betacam, 19 BetacamSP, 39 MiniDV,
3 Hi8)
28 optical discs (4 DVD, 21 DVD-R, 2
audio CD, 1 CD-R)
10 audio cassettes (5 compact
cassette, 4 DAT, 1 DTRS)
51 photographs (45 colour polaroids, 6
black and white prints 20 x 25 cm)
15 slides (15 black and white 35 mm)
9.5 cm of textual records
Physical Condition
Overall in good physical condition. Tapes are playable, but a few show signs of magnetic and physical
deterioration. Photographs display physical deterioration.
History / Biographical
Richard Fung is an artist and writer born in Trinidad and based in Toronto. He holds a diploma from the
Ontario College of Art, a degree in Cinema Studies, and an MEd in Sociology and Cultural Studies, both
from the University of Toronto. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Art at OCAD University, teaching
courses in Integrated Media and Art and Social Change. His work comprises challenging videos on
subjects ranging from the role of the Asian male in gay pornography to colonialism, immigration, racism,
homophobia, AIDS, justice in Israel/Palestine, and his own family history. His single-channel and
installation works, which include My Mother’s Place (1990), Sea in the Blood (2000), Jehad in Motion
(2007), Dal Puri Diaspora (2012), and Re:Orientations (2016), have been widely screened and collected
internationally, and have been broadcast in Canada, the United States, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Richard’s essays have been published in many journals and anthologies, and he is the co-author with
Monika Kin Gagnon of 13: Conversations on Art and Cultural Race Politics (2002), later updated and
translated into French. He was a Rockefeller Fellow at New York University and has received the Bell
Canada Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Art and the Toronto Arts Award for Media Art. In
2015, he received the Kessler Award from CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies at the City University of
New York for “a substantive body of work that has had a significant influence on the field of LGBTQ
Studies.”
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of 15 boxes containing raw material and finished works by Richard Fung, as well as
works by other artists and filmmakers collected by Fung over the years in various video formats. The
fonds also contains amateur footage of events attended by Fung, recordings of television broadcasts
taken by the artist, production files (including photographs and detailed documentation created during
production), correspondence, funding applications, conference programmes, and poetry.
Contains series:
1- Orientations
2- Chinese Characters
3- The Way to My Father’s Village
4- Fighting Chance
5- My Mother’s Place
6- Steam Clean
7- Out of the Blue
8- Dirty Laundry
9- School Fag
10- Sea in the Blood
11- Islands
12- Uncomfortable
13- Landscapes
14- Other works by Fung
15- Works by others collected by Fung
Access Restrictions
The fonds is open to researchers.
Conservation
Tapes have been kept in original packaging, placed in upright position, and grouped by media type when
possible in acid-free boxes. Paper files and photographs have been removed from binders and placed in
acid-free folders. Paperclips and staples have been removed. Slides have been kept in the original archival
sleeve and placed in an acid-free folder.
Arrangement
The fonds has been arranged by work, i.e., materials related to a particular work have been intellectually
grouped together in a single series. Additionally, raw materials pertaining to a particular work have been
arranged in chronological order of production when possible. Physical arrangement has prioritized
grouping similar media together while considering storage limitations.
