Kylä Media Collection
Among the many external donations to the historical society, the Kylä Media Collection is a series of works, writings, and other ephemera associated with mostly anonymous and vernacular lens-based artists. Provenance for this collection dates mostly to 1988-90, making it one of the most chronologically concentrated collections housed by the Luscinia Historical Society.
Series 1: Anonymous + Vernacular Photographs
The beginning of this collection is a seemingly disconnected series of anonymous photographs. Possible photographer(s) unknown, and no identifying imagery is present. Some of these images have corresponding negatives (held in Series 3), however many prints are without their original negatives.
Series 2: Gabby Bucer
An anomaly in the collection was discovered by Collaborative Archival Assistant Emma Lane in the Summer of 2025. In an unmarked folder in a box full of miscellaneous detritus, Lane discovered the unpublished manuscript of artist and writer Gabby Bucer. Titled “Sermon on the Shunned”, Bucer utilized scans from a book in the collection at the University of Cincinnati to create what she called “pink-out poetry”, heavily inspired by other artists working with found text and imagery like Ann Hamilton. The Luscinia Historical Society is working on publishing a monograph of Bucer’s piece with foreword by Lane giving full context of its contents.
