Collect to Return: Why We’re Building a Museum Meant to Vanish

"One day, we will give ALL of these back."

At Silkpride, we preserve—but we do not hoard. We archive—but never possess. We collect only to share, inspire, and RETURN.

This is not a metaphor. It is a vow.

Silkpride began humbly, with an email and a heartbreak. As queer organizations in Mainland China were forcibly shut down, some leaders faced an impossible choice: destroy years of queer history and community project outcomes, or risk by trying to keep it. In a quiet act of resistance, some chose a third path: They contacted our founder overseas and mailed boxes of books, flyers, DVDs, and artwork over—not to disappear, but to wait. To breathe. To live on. Until the items could come back home.

That choice became the seed of Silkpride.

What started as a side project while cleaning the storage and started in someone’s living room has since grown into a global network. Today, we house over 1000 meticulously catalogued physical items, 300 books, and thousands more digital materials. We work across time zones and borders with queer Sinospheric individuals and organizations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, North America, Europe, and the Mainland. We don’t simply archive—we build coalitions, share resources, and stand together.

But through it all, the promise remains: we will give all of the artifacts back. When it is safe. When the doors reopen. When those who made these histories can once again speak, gather, and grow freely. It is a practice of accountability, solidarity, and more importantly, radical hope.

"Collect to Return" is our first founding principle. Our archive is built with impermanence in mind. Our tagging system allows originators to reclaim their items. Every exhibition, every campaign, every moment of curation is infused with the hope that one day, this safekeep won’t be needed anymore. That someday, queer Sinospheric history will no longer need exile but celebration.

Until that day comes, we will keep collecting. We will keep connecting. We will keep incubating.

From Leo Feb 2024