News Campus and Community Exhibit, programs feature handmade books of Latin America
| Exhibit, programs feature handmade books of Latin America |
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| Wednesday, June 11, 2008 | |
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A pop-out jaguar leaps from the page of a book made in Mexico. A four-inch cardboard altar houses three miniature books of incantations and clay animal figurines. These are among 100 hand-made books from Cuba, Mexico, and Argentina to be displayed July 14 through Sept. 30 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Wilson Library. The exhibit, “Hecho a Mano: Book Arts of Latin America,” will provide insight into the rich cultural expression and sometimes difficult economic conditions of those countries. “Hecho a Mano” also will showcase recent acquisitions of the UNC library’s book arts collection. Approximately half of the books were made by three collectives that provide training and a livelihood for their members. A gallery tour at 5:45 p.m. July 23 with exhibit curator Teresa Chapa will feature highlights including the Cuban book “What I Left Behind.” The book, in the shape of a suitcase, recounts with words and objects the memories of writer Ruth Behar, whose family left Cuba in the early 1960s, when she was a young girl. On Aug. 27 at 5:45 p.m. in Wilson Library, Mexican poet Ambar Past, founder of Taller Leñateros (“Woodlanders’ Workshop”) in San Cristóbal de las Casas, in Chiapas, Mexico, will speak in Wilson Library about the work of her book- and paper-making collective. Past founded the collective in 1975 after she became interested in preserving the Tzotzil language and expressions that she was learning from local Mayan women. The exhibit, gallery tour and program are free and open to the public. For information about the tour and program, call (919) 962-4207 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Call (919) 962-1143 or visit http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/hecho_a_mano.html with questions about the exhibit. “The exhibit provides a chance to learn about the continuity of bookmaking traditions in Latin America and to see how inventive, playful and relevant the craft is today,” said Chapa, the library’s Latin American and Iberian resources bibliographer. Chapa has traveled the globe to acquire the volumes and has met many of the artists and bookmakers. While many libraries actively purchase Latin American “artist books” – works by artists whose medium is the book, some of which will be included in the exhibit – Chapa said it is unusual for an American research library also to collect such a variety of small-run productions of independent bookmaking collectives. Besides books produced by Taller Leñateros, Chapa will feature items from the collectives Ediciones Vigía in Matanzas, Cuba, and Eloisa Cartonera, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Chapa said that Ediciones Vigía produces elaborate books with “next to nothing” – craft and mimeo paper, crayons, and items donated from other countries. The work of Eloisa Cartonera reflects the recent difficulties of the Argentine economy. “Cartoneros” are individuals who scavenge and sell cardboard from the country’s dumps, an activity that became widespread during the crisis of 2001. Eloisa Cartonera purchases the cardboard and transforms it into brightly painted covers for modest editions of books. Fine press artists’ books from Mexico and Argentina will also be represented, along with works of Argentine graphic artist and poet Ral Veroni and Mexican printmaker and artist Artemio Rodríguez. The exhibit also will include Chapa’s photographs of the Taller Leñateros, Ediciones Vigía and Eloisa Cartenera workshops. Taller Leñateros Web site: http://www.tallerlenateros.com/ Eloisa Cartonera Web site: (Spanish only): http://www.eloisacartonera.com.ar/eloisa/ Photo URLs: “Barquitos de San Juan : La revista de los niños.” Ediciones Vigía. Cuba, 2007. http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/images/hecho_barquitos.jpg “Bolom Chon” (cover and interior foldout). Taller Leñateros. Mexico, 2007. “Bolom Chon” is an ancient song of the Tzotzil Maya. It refers to a mythical animal, thought by some to be like a jaguar or tiger. http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/images/hecho_bolom_chon.jpg http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/images/hecho_bolom_chon_foldout.jpg Ernesto Camilli. “El sol albañil.” Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eloisa Cartonera, 2007. http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/images/hecho_el_%20sol.jpg Ruth Behar. “Todo lo que guardé/Everything I Kept.” Ediciones Vigía. Cuba, 2001. http://www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/images/hecho_todolo_que_guarde.jpg University Library contact: Judith Panitch, (919) 962-1301, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589 |
