Three woodcuts and three hand made books by John Vasquez Mejias

Includes database and reference images. 

Original wood carving plates (carvings on both sides on 2 of them) for poster design and tests/edits from the “Puerto Rican War” book. Books are hand sewn and printed documenting aspects of his life as a teacher in the Bronx, and other quotidian scenes of his life. Also printed from wood plates. 

“Ever since I was little. My father was telling me about Puerto Rican history and the various ways Puerto Ricans get ripped off 

(...) The fact that the Puerto Rican flag was illegal for years. That they tested bombs there. They used Puerto Ricans as cheap labor. The list goes on and on (…) Somebody once said that we write history to see where we’ve been, and we write fiction to explain how we feel about the history. I don’t know who said that, but I like it and I think about that a lot.”

John Vasquez Mejias, is a writer, artist, printmaker and puppeteer, storyteller, and art teacher. He is best known for his self-published (at first and now trade) book The Puerto Rican War. Detailing a little-known group of Puerto Rican revolutionaries in 1950, the woodcut novelette manages to be a deeply impactful accounting of history as well as a striking work of art. Mejias had been working on the book for many years, but he’s been making woodcut prints since he was in college, in addition to several short comics which he will collect in an upcoming book. Mejias admits to being amazed at the reach that The Puerto Rican War has had, which has led to invitations to contribute to MoMA’s Magazine, where he carved a comic about his response to the exhibition Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: World Unbound, as well as his participation in Past/Present/Future, an exhibition at the Thomas J. Watson Library/Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is currently working on publishing about the Puerto Rican revolutionary, Lolita Lebrón. Mejias drew in elementary school, making murals and comics. As an adult he creates puppet shows to avoid giving book talks.

Books included: 

-Things I have Confiscated from Second Graders. A paper zine printed woodcut accordion book 4” tall folds out to 6’ long.

-Dogs of The Bronx. Hand carved/printed woodcut accordion book 9” tall.
Folds out to 4’.

-Lights Out: 16 page hand sewn Fanzine with comics, photos and art related to False Starts (the punk band). Oversized.