ABC of Racist Europe
Artist name
Ortiz, Daniela
Artist year born
1985
Artwork make date
2017
Artwork material
screen print
Artwork dimensions
height: 30cm
width: 30cm
width: 30cm
Artwork type (categories)
Print
Accession number
3-2023
Label text
After becoming pregnant with her first child, Ortiz set out to develop an anti-racist children’s book. As part of her research, she navigated the broad range of historical books which aim to teach the abecedary to children. She stumbled upon a broad collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth century ABC books distributed in England and targeted to young Britons to learn about the British Empire and its colonies around the world. In books such as “British Empire ABC” (1888), “An ABC for Baby Patriots” (1899), and “Babes of the empire: an alphabet for young England” (1902) illustrations are paired with rhymes to instil a culture of war, colonialism, imperialism, and nationalism into children.
Using the images recollected in these books, Ortiz creates a collage of racist discourse and imagery which serves as the foundation for her own take on an ABC book: one dedicated to point out the underpinning racist structure of Europe. The book, available online, also contains imagery and content relating to resistance methods and groups which have fought against racism and imperialism. In this way, the book is meant to give discursive tools to identify and navigate the complex dynamics of racism in the continent. ESCALA acquired the letter “T” as part of their collection, this entry in the book reveals the vastly different experience of travelling between European tourists and non-European travellers.
Gisselle Giron
Using the images recollected in these books, Ortiz creates a collage of racist discourse and imagery which serves as the foundation for her own take on an ABC book: one dedicated to point out the underpinning racist structure of Europe. The book, available online, also contains imagery and content relating to resistance methods and groups which have fought against racism and imperialism. In this way, the book is meant to give discursive tools to identify and navigate the complex dynamics of racism in the continent. ESCALA acquired the letter “T” as part of their collection, this entry in the book reveals the vastly different experience of travelling between European tourists and non-European travellers.
Gisselle Giron
Last updated date
2024