Maj Jenkins ✹ Project

Passport of Angels

Booklet, 2021

A collage booklet addressing the harrowing journeys and injustices faced by Mexican immigrants at the Southern US border.

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Passport of Angels

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I detourned an illustrated 1960s catalog of North Eastern American seabirds to create a graphic booklet (4.921" x 3.465", same size as a US passport) addressing the harrowing journeys, experiences, and injustices presently faced by Mexican immigrants at the southern United States border.

The visual narrative I developed positions angels and saints watching and guiding the travels of immigrants crossing over to the United States. As guardians and witnesses to present-day struggles of immigration, they provide protection, question cruelty, and mourn injustice. Since all visuals in the booklet are detourned from seabirds, many of which are specialized to fly great distances in difficult weather conditions, a parallel is created between the witnesses and the actors of the journey.

By highlighting the tragedies of nation-state violence and the hostility of the landscape, this booklet is a critique of the struggles endured by immigrants at the southern United States border and a call to action for immigration reform and the abolishing of borders.

Bound in a navy blue cover foiled with gold leaf intended to resemble that of an American passport, it is an accompanying text to those in transit, symbolic of extending protection.

Three copies of this booklet were produced, two with gold-foiled covers and one with a silver-foiled cover. One resides in the collection of the Prelinger Library, a privately-funded public library located in San Francisco.

I printed and hand-bound each booklet (3 in total). The cover required me to employ late-night hours on campus in the interest of teaching myself a new tool: a Cricut machine. This took some trial and error. When I finished making the covers, I sealed the covers with a sealant spray finish to protect the foil from flaking.

Class

Copy Culture

Disciplines

Détournement

Bookbinding

Year

2021