About the founder

Chief Memory Officer

Paul Donato is the founder of The Provenance Collective, dedicated to preserving stories shaped by migration, memory, identity, and lived experience.

Through historical research, oral histories, family archives, and narrative storytelling, his work transforms fragmented histories into enduring and accessible records for future generations. His research focuses on the movement of Southern Italian fishing families from Scilla, Sicily, and the Aeolian Islands to Australia, tracing the traditions, labour, language, and memories carried across generations and oceans.

The Provenance Collective brings together archival research, cultural documentation, and storytelling through a series of interconnected works exploring migration, wartime experience, family history, and intergenerational knowledge.

“Memory deserves structure.”

Without careful preservation, stories can fade with time.
Through archive, narrative, and lived experience, The Provenance Collective exists to ensure these histories continue to be carried forward.

About the founder

Chief Memory Officer

“Memory deserves structure.”

Without careful preservation, stories can fade with time. Through archive, narrative, and lived experience, The Provenance Collective exists to ensure these histories continue to be carried forward.

Without careful preservation, stories can fade with time.
Through archive, narrative, and lived experience, The Provenance Collective exists to ensure these histories continue to be carried forward.