October 16 -30 I will be in the
Miami area with my wife Jacqueline
Hayden (Professor of Film and Photo/
Hampshire College) to present our collaborative work with Cuban
artists.
I would like to introduce you to
Red Trillium Press and the collaborative printmaking
and book projects I have created with Cuban artists. I
have worked in 8
different print shops in Havana since 2001.
My family and I returned to
Havana in February 2010 for 3 months to continue our
collaborations and teaching book arts workshops (gratis) at San
Alejandro Art Academy, ISA and in private workshops. In Havana I
worked with 15 Cuban artists to create PODER,
the
1st of three books exploring common themes of life in
Cuba.
Earlier collaborations, with
Cuban artists include El
muro by Eduardo Hernåndez Santos – a photo book
on the Cuban LGBT community in Havana and Almendrones,
a book on the American car from the prospective of 10 Cuban
printmakers.
On October 16 I will have a book signing for El muro at Books and Books- Coral Gable where I will speak about Mr. Hernández and his work, the difficulties encountered in creating these images, and the process of turning them into a book.
Hope to see every one who
is in the Miami area.
Steve
Steven Daiber, a
Massachusetts book artist, will speak at Books &
Books, 265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, FL. on October 16 at 7
PM about his book collaborations with Cuban artists.
Mr. Daiber will present his most
recent book collaboration, El
Muro, a collection of photographs by
Eduardo Hernández Santos, documenting the
Cuban LGBT community. These indelible images are
published here for the first time; they would never have seen
the light of day in Cuba. Mr. Daiber will speak
about Mr. Hernández and his work, the
difficulties encountered in creating these images, and the
process of turning them into a book.
The pictures in El muro tell a remarkable story of
human endurance and triumph. “These photos are my
tribute to these people, to their courage,” Hernández
says.
Cuban-American novelist Eduardo
Santiago wrote, “Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and a stunning array
of transgenders face the lens with fierce defiance. . . This
book is an act of faith and courage. I loved looking into those
dark, defiant eyes.”
Steven Daiber is a book artist
from Massachusetts. He has been to Cuba regularly since 2001 and
has facilitated dialogue between Cuban and foreign artists. His
books create real, metaphorical objects: palaces of the memory
in which each element underscores a meaning. He
is the proprietor of Red
Trillium Press, www.redtrilliumpress.com.
Eduardo
Hernández Santos made these photographs of homosexuals,
transgenders and crossdressers in the summer of 2005 at
Havana’s seafront wall. Working
only at night, Hernández Santos developed his film with
expired chemicals and printed his images on outdated photo
paper. His darkroom was his bedroom. Once Hernández made his
prints, he used transfer lettering to literally press onto
his images the words of the late gay Cuban poet and
playwright, Virgilio Piñera.
One night at
4:00am, on his way home from El Muro (The Wall), Hernández Santos was
beaten and robbed of his camera. His project ended then and
there.
El
muro by Eduardo Hernández
Santos is ten offset triptych photographs and two bilingual
essays by the artist and by Cuban ethnographer Abel Sierra.
The photographs and text are printed on luminous, mica
coated paper. Three sheets of translucent magenta paper
separate the photographs and essays. El Muro
is 9" x 13.5" opening to 20". The
structure of the book is semi-concealed wire-o binding
serving the original triptych design. The
edition is 1200 copies. A deluxe edition of
50 includes a signed copy of El Muro and
two pigmented-ink portraits signed on verso in a clamshell
box.
El muro/
The Wall by Eduardo Hernández Santos 2009
978-0-9816044-1-1
0-9816044-1-2
For more
information: Steven Daiber 413 695 7990,
[log in to unmask]
www.redtrilliumpress.com.
Books & Books, 265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33134, 305-444-9044