WORMHOLED BOOKS FROM THE BURGOA LIBRARY
In 2023 I received a significant grant from the Canada Council for the Arts that made it possible for me to relocate to Oaxaca—between Sept. 2023 and May 2024. During this period, I continued to visit and document he wormholed books at the Burgoa Library—a project I began in 2014. I also set out to make new artwork in conversation with the Burgoa holdings and the questions they prompted in me. These include tapestries, drawings, and works of asemic writing; they are documented in the following sections of this website: See 1, 2, 3.
—Dianna Frid
Please do not download or reproduce any of these images without inquiring first at diannafrid[at]gmail[dot]com
My sincere gratitude extends to all the librarians and custodians of books who work at the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa … […text continues below…]
My sincere gratitude extends to all the librarians and custodians of books who work at the Biblioteca Fray Francisco de Burgoa in the city of Oaxaca. I am especially grateful to Dr. María Isabel Grañén Porrúa. Her many invitations to think about and with these books will always be treasured. Since 2014, Penélope Orozco Sánchez has welcomed my endless requests to handle these wormholed books. I am grateful for her patience and hospitality. Elvia Acosta Zamora, who later joined the Burgoa team, encouraged me with her enthusiasm by finding even more books with holes during each of my visits. Eduardo Vargas Méndez (Don Lalo) takes care of these books. I witnessed his devotion.
The books in these photographs are housed at the Burgoa Library Collection. They belong to the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca and have been photographed with the institution’s permission.
Find out more about the Burgoa library here, here, and here.