'Las calles rotas de mi ciudad / The Broken Streets of My City'
The book is a complex assemblage of different materials. The cardboard covers are lined with black roofing paper that was applied with heat to achieve the effect of a petro-chemical surface. The covers are decorated with trimmed and torn titles, sawdust mixed with glue, blue painted seashells, and stones. The book is in both Spanish and English and opens in two ways (front to back, back to front). The text of the poem (‘Las calles rotas de mi ciudad/The Broken Streets of my City’) is on two very long folded scrolls (in Spanish, on thin white paper, torn at the edges, measuring 4.20 meters, in English, on thick brown paper, measuring 3.25 meters). The scrolls are kept folded beneath the flaps of the covers. Inside the book there is a double page sheet on brown paper, colored by hand by Rolando Estéve Jordan, and decorated with pieces of paper and nylon mesh, that has hand-colored titles. Attached to the mesh is a prayer card ‘Oración a la Santisima Virgen de Regla’. There are two loose descriptions of the book, one in English (white paper) and in Spanish (brown paper) with different texts. The Spanish describes the materials and contents, and the English relates to the poem. 200 copies of the book were made. Ediciones Vigía was founded in 1985 in Matanzas east of Havana. Its name was taken from its location in the Plaza de la Vigía (Plaza of the Watchtower).
Additional to the gift are two paper bags decorated with drawings and text (pasted on) that Ediciones Vígía use to store their books or give to customers who buy from them.
Additional to the gift are two paper bags decorated with drawings and text (pasted on) that Ediciones Vígía use to store their books or give to customers who buy from them.
Artwork Details
- Title: 'Las calles rotas de mi ciudad / The Broken Streets of My City'
- Author: Ruth Behar (American, born Cuba, 1956)
- Artist: Rolando Estévez Jordán (Cuban, born Matanzas, 1953)
- Publisher: Ediciones Vigía ,Matanzas (Cuba)
- Date: May 2013
- Medium: Cardboard lined with black roofing paper, decorated with trimmed and torn titles (hand-colored), sawdust mixed with glue, seashells, blue paint, stones; nylon mesh, printed texts, photograph (hand-colored), ink
- Dimensions: Exterior 3/8 × 9 7/16 × 1 3/16 in. (34 × 24 × 3 cm)
- Classification: Books
- Credit Line: Gift of H. Barbara Weinberg, in memory of Michael B. Weinberg, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.374
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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