Sarah Matthews, The Negro Is Still Not Free, letterpress, nd

front cover

Sarah Matthews writes that this accordion was "... inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr:'s celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech from August 28, 1963, this work was created to support the Youth Art & Self Empowerment Project in Philadelphia, PA. Their mission is to, "provide space for incarcerated young people to express themselves creatively and to develop as leaders both within and beyond the prison walls".

This 'snake-book' (with one hidden fold section) is a powerful statement by this young African-American artist that highlights the continued discrimination faced by black and brown communities in the USA. I can't help but see the influence of another black letterpress artist, Amos Kennedy Jr., in Matthews work, and like him her work has a social and political edge that seeks to engage and activate the viewer to go out and act!

For more info about Sarah Matthews see: I AM Sarah Matthews. Artist.

12 pages, individual pages 6" x 6", and when extended 2ft. 

back cover

Martin Lopez Lam, Ensalada Mixta, silkscreen, Le Dernier Cri, Marseilles, 2017, ed. 2000

front cover

Another in a long line of extraordinary silkscreened graphzines from the French publishing house, Le Dernier Cri. While this publication does not meet the technical definition of an accordion, it's 8 fold-out pages illustrates to me the power and beauty in the simple act of making a fold - something so central accordion publications. And aside from that, this publication contains a wonderful mash-up of different types and flavors of imagery.

Martin López Lam (Lima 1981) Peruvian graphic artist based in Valencia (Spain), working to on different projects focus in independent publishing, comic, silkscreen and illustration. He has collaborated with magazines like ARGH(Spain), Que Suerte! (Spain), Carboncito (Peru), El Buen Salvaje (Peru), Kuti (Finland), Puck (Italy) or KomfortMag (Czech Rep.), and publishers like Fulgencio Pimentel (Spain), Media Vaca (Spain), Ultrarradio (Spain), Aristas Martinez (Spain), Edicions De Ponent (Spain) and Chili Com Carne (Portugal). Since 2010 he directing the graphic label Ediciones Valientes where published comic and graphic anthologies.

martin lopez - illustrator, art director, front-end / layout designer in Valencia, Spain :: Behance

32 pages, individually 12" x 8".

front and back cover