PAPER BOATS
2017
digital photography, digitally printed, case-bound
8″ x 8.25″ x .75″
Edition of 150
This photo- documentary illustrates our common humanity alongside the distressing loss of identity
taking place in contemporary mass migration to Europe. Central to this book is its potent visual rhythm
of 100 images of hands with origami boats, interspersed with 26 quotes (some in Italian) and 10
portraits. Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva developed this artists’ book in 2015 in a collaborative exchange
while working as expats in Italy. That year, and estimated one million refugees arrived by boat to
Europe, with Sicily as a principle entry point.
Paper Boats fa parte del progetto Meeting Places, la serie collaborativa di libri d’artisti di Patricia
Silva e Lyall Harris (2014-2017). Questa serie di dodici libri è stata sviluppata attraverso un
processo di scambio tra i due artisti eseguito entro limiti di tempo prestabiliti e basato su materiali
ricuperati.
Per Paper Boats, Patricia Silva ha fornito i materiali di partenza (che includevano 2 pacchetti di
carte origami multicolori e due piccoli libretti di presenze del Terzo Ordine di San Francesco) e
l’ispirazione per il libro (foto di gru origami e di fogli di carta da preghiera giapponesi- o-mikuji).
Lyall Harris ha iniziato a lavorare al progetto eliminando tutti le carte origami tranne quelli color
mare e aggiungendo fogli di carta tagliati in quadrati da libri di testo e mappe in lingua italiana.
Harris li ha piegati in 200 barche; su ogni biglietto di presenza dei libretti francescani lei ha
stampato un nome e un numero. I nomi erano africani, mediorientali e orientali; i numeri erano
casuali con il maggior numero di 999.998. (Circa 1.000.000 di persone sono immigrate in Europa
nel 2015; da allora, quel numero è notevolmente aumentato.)
Harris ha consegnato queste barche e biglietti a Silva che ha poi sviluppato l’idea di un libro fotodocumentario, arruolando volontari per le strade di Firenze le cui mani sono state fotografate
mentre reggono una barchetta di carta; in alcuni casi sono stati fotografati anche volti da abbinare
ai biglietti da visita. Se lo desideravano, i partecipanti hanno contribuito con una riflessione scritta.
Silva ha compilato e sistemato le immagini e i testi e ha rilegato l’edizione originale di 2.
Questo documentario fotografico illustra la nostra comune umanità insieme alla dolorosa perdita
di identità che si verifica nella contemporanea migrazione di massa verso l’Europa. Al centro di
questo libro c’è il suo potente ritmo visivo di 100 immagini di mani con barche di origami,
intervallate da 26 citazioni (in inglese e in italiano) e 10 ritratti.
Frontespizio e immagine colophon:
Antipurgatorio attribuito ad Alessandro Allori, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Firenze
Titolo ispirato alla poesia Barchette di carta di Rabindranath Tagore.
L’edizione deluxe di 2 è stata realizzata a Charlottesville, in Virginia, e a Firenze, in Italia, nel 2016;
la successiva edizione di 150 è stata stampata a Firenze nel 2017.
Gli artisti desiderano ringraziare tutti coloro che hanno gentilmente accettato di farsi fotografare e
citare per questo progetto.
Paper Boats is part of Meeting Places, the collaborative book art series by Patricia Silva and Lyall
Harris (2014-2017). This series of twelve bookworks was developed through a process of
exchange between the two artists executed within set time constraints and based on repurposed
materials.
For Paper Boats, Patricia Silva provided starting materials (which included 2 packets of multicolored origami papers and two small bank attendance booklets from the Third Order of Saint
Francis) and an inspiration for the project (photos of origami cranes and Japanese o-mikuji prayer
papers).
Lyall Harris began work on the project by eliminating all but sea-colored origami papers, and
adding text papers cut into origami squares from Italian language textbooks and maps. Harris
folded these into 200 boats; on each attendance ticket from the Franciscan booklets, she printed
a first name and a number. Names were African, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European; numbers
were random with the largest number of 999,998. (Approximately 1,000,000 people immigrated to
Europe in 2015; since then, that number has vastly increased.)
Harris handed off these boats and tickets to Silva who then developed the idea of a photo documentary book, enlisting volunteers on the streets of Florence whose hands were
photographed holding a paper boat; in some cases, faces were also photographed to be paired
with name cards. If they wished, participants contributed a statement. Silva compiled and
arranged the images and texts and bound the original edition of 2.
This photo- documentary illustrates our common humanity alongside the distressing loss of
identity taking place in contemporary mass migration to Europe. Central to this book is its potent
visual rhythm of 100 images of hands with origami boats, interspersed with 26 quotes (in English
and in Italian) and 10 portraits.
Title page and colophon image:
Antipurgatorio attributed to Alessandro Allori, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Firenze
Title inspired by the poem Paper Boats by Rabindranath Tagore.
The deluxe edition of 2 was made in Charlottesville, VA, and Florence, Italy in 2016;
the subsequent edition of 150 was printed in Florence in 2017.
The artists wish to thank all who kindly agreed to be photographed and quoted for this project
PAPER BOATS
Da Lyall Harris and Patricia Silva
Questo libro-documentario fotografico illustra la nostra comune umanità insieme alla dolorosa perdita di
identità che si verifica nella contemporanea migrazione di massa verso l’Europa. Al centro di questo
libro c’è il suo potente ritmo visivo di 100 immagini di mani con barche di origami, intervallate da 26
citazioni (alcune in italiano) e 10 ritratti. Lyall Harris e Patricia Silva hanno sviluppato questo libro
d’artista nel 2015 in uno scambio collaborativo mentre lavoravano come espatriati in Italia. Quell’anno,
si stima che un milione di rifugiati siano arrivati in barca in Europa, con la Sicilia come punto di ingresso
principale.
2017
fotografia digitale, stampa digitale
8″ x 8,25″ x .75″
Edizione rilegata di 150
Biografie essenziali
Patricia B. Silva holds an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from The University of the Arts,
Philadelphia. Silva has been a Professor of Book Art (printmaking, letterpress and bookbinding)
at American university abroad programs in Italy since 2000. She has additionally taught a range
of book art workshops at numerous private and public institutions in the US and Italy. Programs
for which she has taught include University of Minnesota (Accent Center), Studio Art Centers
International (SACI), Santa Reparata International School of Art, Fuji Studios, Washington
University (Florence), Texas Christian University (Florence), Maragoni Studios, Young
Presidents Organization and the University of Georgia (Cortona). She has given artists talks and
book art lectures at Syracuse University, Florence, the San Francisco Public Library, the
Associazione CIAC, the Saint Mark’s Cultural Association and the Virginia Center for the Book,
among other venues. Her work can be found in collections in the US, Italy, and Brazil.
Lyall Harris’ artwork has been exhibited in more than one hundred solo and juried group shows
and recognized with over twenty awards, including The George Hitchcock Prize for painting
from the National Academy Museum. Her book art is held in over fifty Special Collection
libraries, such as those at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Yale and Stanford. Her
poetry and prose have appeared in The Minnesota Review, The New Guard, The Dewdrop, High
Shelf Press, The Perch Magazine, The Vincent Brothers Review and elsewhere. Her first book
Barrier Island is forthcoming from The Black Spring Press Group. She has given papers and/or
artists talks at colleges and universities such as UCSC, UCSB, Art Institute of California, and
other venues, among these, the San Francisco Public Library, The Grabhorn Institute, APHA, and
the Virginia Center for the Book. She has taught in the field of book art at a variety of
institutions, including as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia and James Madison
University. She holds an MFA in Book Art and Creative Writing from Mills College.
Patricia Silva and Lyall Harris have been collaborating in the field of book art, photography and
installation since 2013. Their co-created work has been widely exhibited across the US and in
Italy. A 2017 travelling exhibit “Meeting Places/Luoghi d’incontro,” which included public
programming and an artists’ residency, went from public libraries in Virginia and San Francisco
to SRISA Gallery in Florence, Italy, where in real time in the gallery Silva and Harris conceived,
executed and mounted a new body of work based on “objects of nostalgia” donated by local
residents, titled “Passato Prossimo.” In 2020, they participated in the Virginia Center for the
Book “Shelf Life” series and were Artists of the Week in a featured video about their
collaborations at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts. In 2021, their book art installation “The
Interpreted Object” was showcased at the New York Center for Book Arts; later in 2021 during a
residency at the Virginia Center for the Book, they inaugurated a new, interactive project, “The
Unapologetic Initiative,” that seeks to underscore pervasive gender inequality and empower
women and female-identifying individuals. Silva and Harris are both educators in the field of
book art and both hold MFAs (Harris in Book Art and Creative Writing from Mills College and
Silva in Book Arts/Printmaking from University of the Arts). Their collaborative and individual
work is held in many institutions in the US and abroad.