Intersections: Cultures, Identities, Narratives

Curated by Athena Jackson, Associate Director, Special Collections Library; Nerea Llamas, Head, International Studies; Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies Librarian; with faculty partner: Ruth Behar, Victor Haim Perera Collegiate Professor of Anthropology

Introduction

Intersections: Cultures, Identities, Narratives is drawn from the U-M Library Special Collections Library’s substantial holdings of artists’ books and centers on the artist Rolando Estévez, whose artistic oeuvre bridges the productivity of the Cuban imprint, Ediciones Vigía, to his more recently launched solo imprint, El Fortín.

These holdings are the direct result of UM Professor Ruth Behar's long scholarly and artistic collaboration with Rolando Estévez and her dedication to preserving his work. Professor Behar, who is Cuban-American, was the first U.S. faculty member to bring Estévez's books to the attention of an American university library for collection and conservation. She also invited Estévez to be an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Michigan. Indeed, the first city he ever visited in the United States was Ann Arbor, and he takes special joy in saying that we have the most prominent collection of his books of any American university. 

This exhibit invites viewers to discover the various ways art and literature, and the artist and his collaborative and solo works intersect to provide multicultural textual, artistic, and literary experiences.

 

Intersections

Selections chosen for Intersections: Cultures, Identities, Narratives include examples of texts that embody the ideal marriage of literary and artistic..

Ediciones Vigia

Although Ediciones Vigía did not start as an imprint, as the artistry grew so did the development of the books. In 1985,..

El Fortín - Estévez and His Art

The symbol for Rolando Estévez's imprint,ElFortín, is a lighthouse (el faro). It is often seen as a symbol of salvation..

Teaching with Artists' Books

Teaching with Artists’ Books enables faculty options to offer focused instruction on:
one distinct learning outcome (i.e, artistic and format assessment..

About the Exhibition

This exhibition was created to promote our collection of Cuban artists' books. We also spotlight the work of Rolando Estévez, as..