Savannah Bustillo

https://www.savannahbustillo.com/

Colophon:
The History of the Water that Washes Over Me (Working Title)
Savannah Bustillo, with assistance from Sok Song - 2026
Handmade watermarked Thai kozo paper and thread (book)
Handmade Thai kozo paper, Lokta, book board (case)
18 x 18 x 4inches (open)
5 x 8 x 3/4 inches(closed, in case)

Process:
This book was made from cooked and bleached Thai kozo from Carriage House, pigmented with nontoxic Earth Pigments, and then created in layers on a large 36 x 54 inch deckle box in the papermaking studio at The University of Iowa’s Center for the Book. Initially, vinyl text was placed on the mould, and then a very thin layer of paper was pulled, after which additional layers of pulp were added by hand to add more layers. This was then dried and cut out by hand by the artist, and then folded. Sok Song then applied the final stitching to bind the book.

Watermarked Text:
mountain, precipice, crag, ridge, hilltop, dune, knoll, butte, mesa, plain, grassland, savanna

Short Blurb:

I come from both the highest point and the lowest.

From those who have lived high up in the daunting elevation and dampness of the Andes and from those who have been subject to the winds and sun of the Caribbean Sea. I am the watered down version of both of these ecosystems. The second generation. A point between them, the place that the water flows down the mountains to on its way back to the Atlantic - the savanna. This is a namesake chosen for me because my Colombian parents relished the way it sounded like a part of nature. I wonder if they too thought of it as a confluence of the dirt under their fingernails and the salt in their eyes. This is for them, and for all the people who have been washed in the waters that eventually now wash over me.