About Us

 Our short-term objective is to create and display a short-term physical exhibit in the Shapiro Gallery in Clark Commons at the University of Michigan--Ann Arbor campus, titled Flyover Country. After the exhibit is completed, we hope to pivot to finding a longer term digital archival solution to keep ephemera and live recordings from the regional underground and independent music scene in the lower Great Lakes region, spanning the 1970s/80s to the present, with a focus on showcasing artwork and music by artists in underrepresented or marginalized groups in these areas. Our long-term objectives include receiving 501c3 non-profit status so we can look for funding opportunities to develop a full digital archive. For more information, please check out our full proposal here or get in touch with us via our contact form below.

 Flyers, zines, social media posts, and other forms of DIY ephemera are inherently temporary. They are meant to be seen, shared, and eventually replaced after the events they describe end. Often, however, these pieces are the only surviving physical or digital record that an event occurred outside of the memories of those who participated in it. Much of this material disappears quickly, whether torn down, lost to time, or erased as digital platforms and servers change or vanish. What survives is rarely given attention after the fact.

Beyond posing as a record of a moment in time, this exhibit asks the viewer to engage each flyer as a unique and distinct piece of artwork. Each piece reflects intentional creative labor, determined by the choices of the artist who made it, using the tools and resources available to them in that moment of time. These materials often capture how their makers express themselves and are a signal for carving out community in environments that may be otherwise isolating or hostile to marginalized identities.

By displaying these flyers in a gallery setting, Flyover Country asserts that there is value in this art simply because the artist chose to make it. The act of preserving these materials is conscious and intentional. As librarians, archivists, and historians, we preserve physical records of the memories, relationships, and moments the record represents, ensuring it is not lost to time once its original purpose has passed. 

We were here, we still are here, we will always be here. 

DIY or Die.