Sabor A Mi
Cecilia Vicuña
1973
Sabor A Mi
Sabor A Mi
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Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille ...
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Sabor A Mi
Cecilia Vicuña
1973
Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [158 pages]
20 × 16.2 cm
Edition of 250

Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille and Mircea Eliade, insects, dried plants, fragments of cloth, and other found materials into a seminal work in which politics and intimacy become inseparable. 


 


The book is structured as a meditation on violence, exile, and survival – central themes in Cecilia Vicuña’s practice. She was among the first artists to give voice to the gradual disappearance of Andean knowledge and Indigenous traditions under the pressures of colonialism and modernity. It is against this backdrop that Vicuña’s credo took shape: “Today’s task is to arm the minds”. After coining the term “precarious art” in the 1960s, she developed a practice centred on fragile, ephemeral materials. Sabor a Mí stands as one of the most compelling expressions of this approach. Through its provisional forms and handmade elements, the book weaves together elements of remembrance and resistance. At once militant and ritualistic, it confronts established histories and reaffirms the enduring presence of Indigenous memory and culture.


 


Published in Devon, England, by the artist-run Beau Geste Press in a limited edition of just 250 handmade copies, Sabor a Mí was produced using mimeograph and offset printing, with each copy assembled by hand by the artist. Its modest means of production are inseparable from its meaning: the book itself embodies the precarious aesthetic that has come to define Vicuña’s work. Both a landmark in her career and a significant contribution to the history of artists’ books, it remains one of the defining examples of the medium in twentieth-century Latin America.

Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [158 pages]
20 × 16.2 cm
Edition of 250

Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille and Mircea Eliade, insects, dried plants, fragments of cloth, and other found materials into a seminal work in which politics and intimacy become inseparable. 

 

The book is structured as a meditation on violence, exile, and survival – central themes in Cecilia Vicuña’s practice. She was among the first artists to give voice to the gradual disappearance of Andean knowledge and Indigenous traditions under the pressures of colonialism and modernity. It is against this backdrop that Vicuña’s credo took shape: “Today’s task is to arm the minds”. After coining the term “precarious art” in the 1960s, she developed a practice centred on fragile, ephemeral materials. Sabor a Mí stands as one of the most compelling expressions of this approach. Through its provisional forms and handmade elements, the book weaves together elements of remembrance and resistance. At once militant and ritualistic, it confronts established histories and reaffirms the enduring presence of Indigenous memory and culture.

 

Published in Devon, England, by the artist-run Beau Geste Press in a limited edition of just 250 handmade copies, Sabor a Mí was produced using mimeograph and offset printing, with each copy assembled by hand by the artist. Its modest means of production are inseparable from its meaning: the book itself embodies the precarious aesthetic that has come to define Vicuña’s work. Both a landmark in her career and a significant contribution to the history of artists’ books, it remains one of the defining examples of the medium in twentieth-century Latin America.

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Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille and Mircea Eliade, insects, dried plants, fragments of cloth, and other found materials into a seminal work in which politics and intimacy become inseparable. 

 

The book is structured as a meditation on violence, exile, and survival – central themes in Cecilia Vicuña’s practice. She was among the first artists to give voice to the gradual disappearance of Andean knowledge and Indigenous traditions under the pressures of colonialism and modernity. It is against this backdrop that Vicuña’s credo took shape: “Today’s task is to arm the minds”. After coining the term “precarious art” in the 1960s, she developed a practice centred on fragile, ephemeral materials. Sabor a Mí stands as one of the most compelling expressions of this approach. Through its provisional forms and handmade elements, the book weaves together elements of remembrance and resistance. At once militant and ritualistic, it confronts established histories and reaffirms the enduring presence of Indigenous memory and culture.

 

Published in Devon, England, by the artist-run Beau Geste Press in a limited edition of just 250 handmade copies, Sabor a Mí was produced using mimeograph and offset printing, with each copy assembled by hand by the artist. Its modest means of production are inseparable from its meaning: the book itself embodies the precarious aesthetic that has come to define Vicuña’s work. Both a landmark in her career and a significant contribution to the history of artists’ books, it remains one of the defining examples of the medium in twentieth-century Latin America.

Devon: Beau Geste Press
Unpaginated [158 pages]
20 × 16.2 cm
Edition of 250

Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille and Mircea Eliade, insects, dried plants, fragments of cloth, and other found materials into a seminal work in which politics and intimacy become inseparable. 

 

The book is structured as a meditation on violence, exile, and survival – central themes in Cecilia Vicuña’s practice. She was among the first artists to give voice to the gradual disappearance of Andean knowledge and Indigenous traditions under the pressures of colonialism and modernity. It is against this backdrop that Vicuña’s credo took shape: “Today’s task is to arm the minds”. After coining the term “precarious art” in the 1960s, she developed a practice centred on fragile, ephemeral materials. Sabor a Mí stands as one of the most compelling expressions of this approach. Through its provisional forms and handmade elements, the book weaves together elements of remembrance and resistance. At once militant and ritualistic, it confronts established histories and reaffirms the enduring presence of Indigenous memory and culture.

 

Published in Devon, England, by the artist-run Beau Geste Press in a limited edition of just 250 handmade copies, Sabor a Mí was produced using mimeograph and offset printing, with each copy assembled by hand by the artist. Its modest means of production are inseparable from its meaning: the book itself embodies the precarious aesthetic that has come to define Vicuña’s work. Both a landmark in her career and a significant contribution to the history of artists’ books, it remains one of the defining examples of the medium in twentieth-century Latin America.

MORE BOOKS

Few artists’ books combine poetry and politics as unsettlingly as Sabor a Mí. Created in the aftermath of the September 1973 military coup in Chile, it gathers poems, journal entries, drawings, references to Georges Bataille and Mircea Eliade, insects, dried plants, fragments of cloth, and other found materials into a seminal work in which politics and intimacy become inseparable. 

 

The book is structured as a meditation on violence, exile, and survival – central themes in Cecilia Vicuña’s practice. She was among the first artists to give voice to the gradual disappearance of Andean knowledge and Indigenous traditions under the pressures of colonialism and modernity. It is against this backdrop that Vicuña’s credo took shape: “Today’s task is to arm the minds”. After coining the term “precarious art” in the 1960s, she developed a practice centred on fragile, ephemeral materials. Sabor a Mí stands as one of the most compelling expressions of this approach. Through its provisional forms and handmade elements, the book weaves together elements of remembrance and resistance. At once militant and ritualistic, it confronts established histories and reaffirms the enduring presence of Indigenous memory and culture.

 

Published in Devon, England, by the artist-run Beau Geste Press in a limited edition of just 250 handmade copies, Sabor a Mí was produced using mimeograph and offset printing, with each copy assembled by hand by the artist. Its modest means of production are inseparable from its meaning: the book itself embodies the precarious aesthetic that has come to define Vicuña’s work. Both a landmark in her career and a significant contribution to the history of artists’ books, it remains one of the defining examples of the medium in twentieth-century Latin America.

MORE BOOKS