Shapono
Title
Shapono
Subject
The first book made by Yanomami community.
Description
Shapono, meaning “communal house,” is a book made by the Yanomami Owë Mamotima community of Mahekoto-Platanal, Amazonas, Venezuela. It is the culture’s first written record and was made collaboratively by elders, youth, and scholars in a limited edition of fifty. It documents a Yanomami creation myth, traditionally told orally, about how the first communal house came to be. The book was started in 1996 and was completed in 2003.
Illustrations within the book came from relief prints made by children of the community. The use of relief printing in this way was somewhat unusual, as carved block printing had long been part of Yanomami culture but had previously only been used for ceremonial and decorative body stamping before 1996. The book’s paper was handmade by the community using fibers from the region’s forests. This merge of hand papermaking with relief printing combined two technologies that were previously thought disparate by the community; essentially producing a new artform.
The creation of Shapono was made possible in part by socially-engaged artist, Laura Anderson Barbata, who initiated the paper and bookmaking project with the Yanomami in 1992. Her engagement with the community has brought resources and recognition to the community. In 2000 Shapono received the Best Book of the Year award from the Centro Nacional del Libro of Venezuela. In 2002 the project received the Charles A and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation grant which enabled the project to establish a studio and purchase a Hollander beater for papermaking. It also helped to inspire Caracas-based Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), led by Professor Alvaro Gonzalez Bastidas, to collaborate with the community to construct the Shapono School in Alto Orinoco. The mission of the Shapono School is to preserve and promote parts of Yanomami culture related to craft tradition, as well as Yanomami knowledge related to plants and medicine. The school will include a papermaker's garden along with workshops in paper, print, and bookmaking.
Among Tender Roots, curated by Melissa Hilliard Potter, was the first retrospective of Laura Anderson Barbata’s work, and it featured Shapono in the United States for the first time. Shapono is included in various collections, among them Centro de Estudios IDEA, Caracas; The Cotsen Library Collection of Princeton University; the Gimbel Library at Parsons School of Design, New York; the Latin American Book Collection, The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; and the Spencer Collection at the New York Public Library among others.
Illustrations within the book came from relief prints made by children of the community. The use of relief printing in this way was somewhat unusual, as carved block printing had long been part of Yanomami culture but had previously only been used for ceremonial and decorative body stamping before 1996. The book’s paper was handmade by the community using fibers from the region’s forests. This merge of hand papermaking with relief printing combined two technologies that were previously thought disparate by the community; essentially producing a new artform.
The creation of Shapono was made possible in part by socially-engaged artist, Laura Anderson Barbata, who initiated the paper and bookmaking project with the Yanomami in 1992. Her engagement with the community has brought resources and recognition to the community. In 2000 Shapono received the Best Book of the Year award from the Centro Nacional del Libro of Venezuela. In 2002 the project received the Charles A and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation grant which enabled the project to establish a studio and purchase a Hollander beater for papermaking. It also helped to inspire Caracas-based Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), led by Professor Alvaro Gonzalez Bastidas, to collaborate with the community to construct the Shapono School in Alto Orinoco. The mission of the Shapono School is to preserve and promote parts of Yanomami culture related to craft tradition, as well as Yanomami knowledge related to plants and medicine. The school will include a papermaker's garden along with workshops in paper, print, and bookmaking.
Among Tender Roots, curated by Melissa Hilliard Potter, was the first retrospective of Laura Anderson Barbata’s work, and it featured Shapono in the United States for the first time. Shapono is included in various collections, among them Centro de Estudios IDEA, Caracas; The Cotsen Library Collection of Princeton University; the Gimbel Library at Parsons School of Design, New York; the Latin American Book Collection, The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; and the Spencer Collection at the New York Public Library among others.
Bibliography:
Among Tender Roots. Laura Anderson Barbata, Melissa Potter, Patrick Dowdey, Kathi Beste. Columbia College Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts. 2010. Print.
Social Paper: Hand Papermaking in the Context of Socially Engaged Art. Jessica Cochran, Melissa Potter. Columbia College Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts. 2015. Print.
Creator
Goettling, Willa
Source
Among Tender Roots, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago.
Publisher
College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago, with permission of Laura Anderson Barbata.
Date
1996 - 2003
Rights
All rights remain with the author.
Collection Items
Shapono Book Cover
First book made by the Yanomami Owë Mamotima community of Mahekoto-Platanal, Amazonas, Venezuela. Shown as part of Among Tender Roots Exhibition, a retrospective for the work of Laura Anderson Barbata.
Yanomami Children Block Printing
Javier demonstrating and teaching block printing to his Yanomami Owë Mamotima classmates, Shakita, Amazonas, Venezuela,
Porfirio and the Hollander Beater
Image that appeared in Among Tender Roots catalog: Porfirio next to the refurbished Hollander beater, Mahekoto-Platanal, Amazonas, Venezuela,
Shapono Block Print Demonstration
Javier demonstrating and teaching block printing to his Yanomami Owë Mamotima classmates, Shakita, Amazonas, Venezuela, 1996. Photograph that appeared in Among Tender Roots catalog.
Paper and Bookmaking Workshop
Sheroanawë Hakihiiwë and members of the Yanomami Owë Mamotima paper and bookmaking project in front of the workshop. Mahekoto-Platanal, Amazonas, Venezuela, 2005.