"Passage" by Fred Hagstrom
This artist book tells (and shows) the story of the trans-Atlantic slave trade by providing photographical and textual artifacts of the slaves who were directly involved. These are paired with colorful screen print compositions on the opposite side of the two-page spread, which provides a modern artistic juxtaposition to the historical evidence that the author provides.
In this book the artist plays with juxtaposition between the recto and verso of his page spreads. On the verso of each spread, there is a screen print, made by the artist, and only historical in subject matter, not in nature. On the recto, there is a historical photograph of a slave, which is paired with a quote from someone else involved in the trans-atlantic slave trade. However, the quotes are not from the individuals pictured in the photographs.
Unlike a traditional novel, the text is supplementary to the image, rather than the other way around. The images, and the juxtaposition between them, impress immediately upon the reader, before the text is even read. The screen prints, showing images of slaves standing side by side with their hands bound in front of them, convey the discomfort and cramped space that must have been part of the trans-Atlantic journey. The colors serve to add a harsh vibrancy to these images, which would not have been as striking with black and white images. However, the monochrome palette of the photographs adds a sense of reality that the artistic compositions are lacking. In addition, the photographs are very gritty, making it hard to clearly make out the faces. Paired with the quotes, this kind of imagery conveys to the viewer that this journey was endured by thousands of people, each with a unique story of misfortune.
This artist sticks closely to the codex form, because deviating from it may have distracted from his message. However, there are many aspects of the book's physical form that are different than one might expect of a codex, and these aspects help convey the mood of the journey. First of all, the size of the book is enormous. This also makes it unusually heavy, which parallels the heaviness, the oppressiveness, of the journey. The texture of the pages is rough and gritty, not smooth and or soft. These physical qualities of the book add to the reader's experience and connect them to the book's subjects.
Next, we will look at Parallax, which takes steps even further away from the standard codex.
