Sam Markham’s work uses
ephemera and archival sources to examine how we as individuals and as a society
both interpret the present and construct and distort the past. Issues of
memory and forgetting are longtime preoccupations; during his six years as the
assistant archivist at the Associated Press Corporate Archives he worked on
collections of historic importance such as the Saigon Bureau Records
(1953-1975) and organized exhibitions culled from AP’s 167 years of
history. As an artist and archivist, Markham is interested in the
processing of violence and trauma and how we collectively and personally
confront, avoid, and make sense of the past.
Markham was born in March 1975 in Saigon one month before the fall of his birth city to the North Vietnamese army. For the next 12 years he lived in Athens, Beirut, Madrid, and Bonn before moving to the United States. His father was a journalist for the New York Times. Having subsequently spent time in New England, Santa Fe, Oakland, and London he now lives in Queens, New York City.
Markham was born in March 1975 in Saigon one month before the fall of his birth city to the North Vietnamese army. For the next 12 years he lived in Athens, Beirut, Madrid, and Bonn before moving to the United States. His father was a journalist for the New York Times. Having subsequently spent time in New England, Santa Fe, Oakland, and London he now lives in Queens, New York City.
