Tropic Bound: Miami’s first international biennial Artists’ Book Fair

from Movable Stationery Vol 31, No 1, March 2023

cruel consequences

BY MARIANNE R. PETIT

Tropic Bound directors, Cristina Favretto (University of Miami Special Collections Director), Sarah Michelle Rupert (artist and Girls’ Club Collection director), and Ingrid Schindall (artist and owner of IS Projects) began envisioning the possibilities years ago. With support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, they saw a unique opportunity to focus on the historic and underrepresented medium of artists’ books. The result was an extraordinary event, bringing together over 60 exhibitors from across the US, Mexico, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Egypt –made free and open to the public.

The opening symposium event featured keynote speaker Tia Blassingame, book artist, proprietor of Primrose Press, and founder of Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective. Blassingame presented the impressive work of fellow Color Collective members and spoke of the importance of holding and making space for the work of traditionally underrepresented artists.

This was followed by an energetic panel of Florida-based artists, writers, curators, librarians, and cultural presenters, including P. Scott Cunningham (O, Miami Founder and Executive Director), John Cutrone (Director of Jaffe Center for Book Arts), Aldeide Delgado (founder & director of Women Photographers International Archive / WOPHA), Amy Galpin (Frost Museum of Art Chief Curator), Stephanie M. Garcia (Head of Special Collections & Archives for Miami DadePublic Library System), and Steve Saiz (founder of Dalé Zine.)

The following three days saw a bustling fair of exhibitions attended by thousands of visitors. Movable books could be seen throughout the exhibit floor.

from her We Are Tiger Dragon People series, both digitally and in person.

Emily Martin’s dynamic table was filled with a variety of movable works and book forms, including her accordion pop-up, Sleepers, Dreams, & Screamers, double tunnel book Out There In Here, as well as volvelles from her Oscar Wilde: In Earnest and Out, and handmade puppets from Madness: Reading Hamlet in the Time of Covid-19 and Other Plagues.

Maddy Rosenberg and her Central Booking table presented a wide array of artist books. From Rosenberg’s own beautiful hand-cut accordion On the Margins, to Hugh Bryden’s Charm Bracelet, Beauvais Lyon’s Circus Orbis Dimensional Showcards and Dan Burmeister’s A Pocket Book of Balls, the table was full of stunning works, materials, and folds.

And finally, Carolyn Shattuck provided a powerful presence with her environmentallythemed origami and pop-ups exploring the devastation and destruction of habitat through poaching, encroachment, and climate change.

The fair was an extraordinary event. I loved participating with my own pop-ups, animation, and AR pieces and found myself engaged in a million wonderful conversations with artists, curators, librarians, publishers, collectors, book lovers, students, and more. Really looking forward to what Tropic Bound 2025 will bring!