Some of the most urgent issues today relate to the movement of people across borders in search of security, spurred by human-made or natural catastrophes. The artists whose work is shown here use the intimate, tactile connection between book and reader to make the migrant experience immediate, and to elicit an empathetic response.
Phil Zimmerman
Sanctus Sonorensis
Tucson, Ariz.: Spaceheater Editions, 2009
Described by the artist as ‘a book of border beatitudes,’ Sanctus Sonorensis features gilded edges and a board book format, eliciting the feel of both sacred books and childhood favorites. The pages are saturated with full-bleed photographs of skyscapes from the Sonoran Desert, a dangerous and heavily-used route for migrants to the US from Mexico.
Purchased using funds from the T. Henry and Penelope Clarke Library Fund in honor of Margaret Bland Clarke.
UNC Library Catalog: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb8526019
Lyall Harris
Chronicles of Migration
Charlottesville, VA: [Lyall F. Harris], 2016
Harris invites the reader’s active participation with Chronicles of Migration through the cards mounted to the pages of this accordion book. They can be removed and rearranged, revealing basic questions that we might consider about migration and its causes. The uncertainty of the order of the cards may also communicate disorientation, or the instability of a displaced person’s narrative.
Purchased using funds from the T. Henry and Penelope Clarke Library Fund in honor of Margaret Bland Clarke.
UNC Library Catalog: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb8681767