NOVEMBER 2025

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EDITOR'S NOTE

To archive is to save, to keep, to hold, to be fade-resistant, to challenge the limits of memory. An archive is often the antidote to disappearance. Yet the practice of “saving” becomes subjective: The act of keeping is also an act of choosing, sometimes resulting in oppression, omission, censorship. Recognizing the futile promise of “forever,” can we conceive of an archive that both remembers and embraces the inevitable fade ?

The following twelve articles dissolve, drift, slip into realms of presence and absence: Author Mayra Garza reflects on the ofrenda as archive, a sacred ritual that resists erasure and exposes grief. Janelle Ketcher carries this thread to the afterlife, inviting hand-written sentiments for those who have passed. s. leimbach attests to the power of preservation through community scanning parties. Becky Alexander trails the ghosts of a collapsed institution. Olivia Radbill and Tess Inman outline the echoes of historic architecture of Los Angeles. Ryan Green documents the once-ubiquitous, now-crumbling payphones of Los Angeles. Kathyrn Ung and Sarah Richardson share artifacts of underground Cold War subcultures, which escaped government erasure. Beth Ann Whittaker and Richelle Munkhoff expose artists hidden beneath the veils of traditional metadata standards. Denise Mc Iver recounts limited, racist makeup products and celebrates the Black Beauty Archive. Finally, Esperanza Bey charts the social justice narrative of the Samoan American civil rights collective Omai Fa’atasi.

Disappearance has been an especially palpable theme in Los Angeles for the duration of 2025. Wildfires have decimated Altadena, the Pacific Palisades, and countless areas in Southern California. The haunting return of ICE agents inflicts deep wounds, imposing permanent stains on the fabric of our community. As our ever-evolving city continuously sheds its skin, the fading light gives way to a new day. We will rebuild, renew, and remember. 

Acid Free #16 will be celebrated and commemorated at Solarc on Eagle Rock Boulevard on Saturday, November 8, accompanied by Mayra Garza’s collaborative ofrenda, Janelle Ketcher’s Postcards for the Dead table, Ryan Green’s payphone flipbook, a limited-edition poster, and cake.

You are invited…to ruminate on what is lost, all that remains, and all that lives in the ephemeral spaces of memory and meaning.

Melting Away,
ACID FREE

Saving What Vanishes: The Radical Work of Scanning Parties

S. Leimbach explores how scanning parties can empower local communities to reclaim, preserve, and celebrate their histories as powerful acts of resistance against cultural erasure.

Memories on the Line: A Personal Archive of LA’s Lost Payphones

Through photography and montage, Ryan Green documents the disappearance of Los Angeles' payphones and the memories that have faded without them.

First There Wasn't ... And Now There Is

Denise Mc Iver recounts the evolution of makeup concealer and revels the Black Beauty Archive, including a special interview with BBA Founder Camille G. Lawrence.

Cold War Memory: Preserving Communist Material Culture

Kathryn Ung and Sarah Richardson examine how the Wende Museum collects, preserves, and makes accessible at-risk material culture from the Cold War era, highlighting stories of disappearance, resistance, and resilience that might otherwise have been lost to history.

Omai Fa’atasi and the Disappearance of a Samoan Radical  Presence in Carson, CA

Esperanza Bey brings to light the forgotten history of the 1970s Samoan American collective Omai Fa'atasi in Carson, CA, emphasizing the importance of and the need to activate and safeguard the narratives of radical political and cultural movements.

We Keep Each Other in the Archive

Mayra Garza meditates on how emotion, senses, and community build ofrendas--counter-archives that preserve the love of a life lost

Expanding Knowledge: Collective Memory in the Ruth G. Waddy Sketchbook

Ruth G. Waddy’s sketchbook gathers the work of more than 100 artists, embodying her lifelong devotion to collective creativity. Plain Sight Archive traces how this singular object both protects and conceals a vital network of Black artistic memory.

Are the Stars Out Tonight ?

Tess Inman documents the rise, fall, and renewal of the former Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel.

Death of a Movie Palace

Olivia Radbill traces the story of South Pasadena’s century-old Rialto Theatre and underscores a community’s desire to preserve this architectural monument of the city’s history.

Postcards for the Dead

Janelle Ketcher explores grief, memory, and healing through the collective archival project Postal Service for the Dead.

Fire and ICE

A resource page for fire victims and ICE raids.
 

Parade of Shadows: Archiving the End of the San Francisco Art Institute

School ghosts and rubber aliens haunt the halls alongside Becky Alexander as she reconciles the death of a beloved art institution.