Monday, June 21, 7:30PM
2739 Edwin, Hamtramck, MI 48212

“Exile & Utopia”

A Reading and Exhibit of the Illustrated Book by Aaron Johnson-Ortiz

Background:
The ampersand between the words “exile” and “utopia” transforms the feeling of loss of home into a hope for a better world. This is the
trajectory of the exhibited book, which traces a group of exiled Mexicans led by Ricardo Flores Magon in the early twentieth century as
they flee repression and surveillance through the US and Canada, connect with North American anarchists and socialists, and attempt to
organize a revolution in Mexico. In the centennial of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the author/artist retraced this failed precursor
movement, photographed the erased historic sites where the group hid and worked, assembled a narrative based on intercepted correspondence and detective notes, and composed abstract drawings that chart the growth and/or constriction of the movement.