Participatory Installation at Shapiro Undergraduate Library in Ann Arbor, MI

The Latinx Library responded to the lack of a Latinx Studies collection within the University of Michigan archives; titles that would be considered Latinx Studies are cataloged between two problematic collections: the Latin American & Iberian Studies Collection and the Multicultural Studies Collection. In response, I invited the Latinx campus community to collectively make and then exhibit their own collection of “Latinx readers”. I held workshops for participants to make their own readers from crowdsourced materials (book chapters, music videos, family recipes, journal articles, etc.) deemed important by the Latinx community. Participants bound their readers with cardboard covers, alluding to the tradition of Latin American cartoneras, a form of community-based publishing that makes literature more accessible. These readers were then collectively displayed on a custom-built cart embedded within the lobby of the busiest library on campus.