Steven McCarthy
Falcon Heights, MN
faculty.design.umn.edu/mccarthy
Average Asmarino
toner on paper, metal eyelets, laser-cut wood, ribbons
11.25″ (closed) x 13.75″
2013
Average Asmarino is an artist’s book that depicts a series of photographs that document the artist’s return to Asmara, Eritrea 44 years after living there as a boy. He asked people (“Asmarinos”) to pose with a B&W picture of himself, taken there locally when he was ten years old. These twelve images are paired with street scenes or landscapes turned partially black and white, and are bound by metal eyelets to create a 90-degree open folio. The outside of each folio features a map of Asmara or other aspect of geography. The pages are contained in a laser-cut walnut portfolio.