Barcelona: A Narrative Atlas
Sara Blaylock’s atlas of Barcelona shares an outsider’s investigation into the hidden histories of the city. American artist Blaylock spent several months researching Barcelona’s ten districts using Catalan, Spanish and English texts. In a series of ten essays (one for each district), she combines her discoveries, drawing connections between places and events through history’s myriad details. Hand-drawn maps which locate the histories accompany the texts.
‘Barcelona: A Narrative Atlas’, is presented as both a limited edition of hand-made books and an unlimited edition of free printable copies, available for download from Blaylock’s website. Local residents have translated the texts from the original English to Catalan and Spanish.
Blaylock hopes to pique interest in both local and foreign populations from all parts of the city. The project pays equal attention to Barcelona’s characteristically popular districts (Ciutat Vella, Gràcia) as well as newer or underrepresented ones (Nou Barris, Horta-Guinardó).
Miscelanea will host the first public presentation of ‘Barcelona: A Narrative Atlas’ on Sunday, March 20 at 7pm. The event features readings of the district texts by local residents in English, Catalan and Spanish. Following the readings, the artist invites the public to continue the cartographic endeavor by adding their own histories based on experience, research, rumor, conjecture, etcetera. American poet and Catalan/Spanish-speaker Ari Feld will moderate the discussion. Free photocopies of the texts and maps will be available. Copies of the limited edition book will be available for purchase in the Miscelanea shop.
www.sarablaylock.com
