Our collaboration began in the spring of 2005, with plans to create a book honoring our Mexican neighbors who died crossing the Sonora–Arizona border. As our concept grew, the desert became the most natural place to look for inspiration, and ultimately led to our realization that through handmade paper and the physicality of the papermaking process, we would be able to communicate our message more powerfully than with any written word or any other medium. We decided to make a variety of paper sheets to represent both the flora that thrive in the desert and the immigrants who die there while crossing. We collected indigenous fiber directly from the desert: cholla, prickly pear, mesquite pods, saguaro, agave, and yucca. We also collected non-indigenous fibers including palm, bamboo, and cattail that now grow abundantly in the wild or are commonly used in desert landscapes. As papermakers, we had been purists, creating single fiber editions that yield identical sheets. For this project, however, our desire to create one-of-akind pages led to experimentation and the abandonment of our structured approach to papermaking. We combined the desert pulps in various ways, developing different pouring, shaking, and draining techniques to create a variety of finished papers. As we continued making new batches of different fibers, we found that our initial investigations led to further experiments in harvesting Desert Journey: A Collaboration of Art and Advocacy marcia mcclellan and katherine nicholson Unfinished Stories, installation piece, 7 x 34 feet, handmade leather books, desert fiber handmade paper, wire, barbed wire, cholla, and manila tag labels, for the exhibition "Trespasses and Reflections" at eye lounge, Phoenix, Arizona, April 2007. All photos courtesy of the authors. winter 2007 - 29 the cacti from the desert as well as in the preparation of the fiber. We allowed the individual characteristics of the natural fibers to direct the entire process. By combining pulps we created finished sheets that represent an array of desert colors and textures, and likewise pay tribute to the diversity of immigrant stories. During the project, we initiated a dialogue with two nonprofit humanitarian groups who aid immigrants on their journeys, Humane Borders and No More Deaths. They provided statistics and stories of immigrants so numerous that we felt compelled to enlarge the scope of our original plan of producing a single book. Our first collaborative work took shape as a series of four books titled Recordando las Animas (Remembering the Souls). Each book represents a season in 2005, and contains individual pages, each with the handwritten name of a deceased immigrant. The loose pages are contained in wood covers handmade from desert trees and bound with leather. Recordando las Animas (Remembering the Souls) was juried into shows in the Arizona cities of Tubac and Tucson, and at that time, we thought that our collaboration was complete. The books were well received and public awareness of our work grew. We soon had requests for information regarding immigrants who died in other years. We conducted additional research and created two more sets of books, organized once again by seasons of the year, in recognition of the immigrants who died during 2003 and 2004, respectively. We were obliged to complete this enormous undertaking, feeling as if the immigrants and their desert journeys drove the entire project. Upon reflection, we realized that the power of handmade paper and its symbolic relationship to the deceased resonated deeply with the vision of our project. Throughout this creative process, while forming and handling each sheet, we were humbled by thoughts of the challenges facing the immigrants as they searched for better lives for themselves and their families—the scorching sun, the scrabble landscape, the disorientation from dehydration. As artists and women, we were on our own personal journey of increased awareness, discovery, connection, and advocacy. Eighteen months into the collaboration, we received an invitation to install an exhibit at eye lounge, a contemporary art space in Phoenix, Arizona. This opportunity coincided with the release of the 2006 data for immigrant deaths, inspiring us to create another series of four books. The immigrant paper project, thus, continued to evolve. We felt it would be powerful to exhibit the entire series of sixteen books containing over 1,000 pages. As we worked on the 2006 series, we were deeply affected by the new statistics provided by the humanitarian groups which included the exact date, location, and cause of death for each immigrant. Two hundred eight immigrants perished in the desert in 2006. They were male and female, ages 3 to 72 years, sole travelers and entire families. We struggled to find a way to represent the enormity of this tragedy. Once again, the connection between the desert and the immigrants gave us direction. We decided to commemorate each unfinished life and story by creating 208 blank journals which would be installed alongside the sixteen books representing immigrant deaths from 2003 to 2006. Each leather-bound journal contains handmade desert fiber paper with an attached label, symbolic of a coroner's tag, which provides the immigrant's name, age, location, and cause of death. For the installation, we hung the 208 variously sized blank books on a 7 x 34-foot-long fence constructed of cholla cactus skeletons and barbed wire. Viewers were encouraged to touch the handmade desert fiber papers, handle the blank journals, and participate in an act of remembrance. To acquire a blank journal, viewers could select and purchase one of their choice, removing it from the fence, then detaching the immigrant information tag from the book, and hanging the tag back on the fence. Often, they would select a person whose death coincided Detail of Unfinished Stories. Recordando las Animas (Remembering the Souls), 2006–2007, 5 x 4 inches x variable depth, desert fiber handmade paper, ink, nails, leather, and wood, set of four unique artist books commemorating the years 2003 to 2006. Paper created by the artists at the ASU Papermill in Tempe, Arizona. 30 - hand papermaking with their own birthday. To further educate our viewing public, we posted information throughout the gallery regarding the organizational efforts of the two humanitarian groups. During the month-long exhibit, we witnessed many viewers leaving the gallery with their selected immigrant journals held closely, often discussing the horrific loss of life. For some, immigration was no longer solely a political issue characterized by mere statistics. Handmade page by handmade page, book by book, and journal by journal, the immigrants were remembered and honored. In recognition of our interdependence with our brothers and sisters, we donated a portion of our proceeds to the humanitarian groups with which we worked. Several months have passed since the Unfinished Stories installation and questions still remain. Are we finished yet? Will the project continue to grow? Will the immigration issue compel us to dig deeper within ourselves as artists and as human beings? We know only one thing: the immigrants' stories, the medium of handmade paper, and the power of the desert will determine the contours of our journey. Marcia McClellan (at right) and Katherine Nicholson at the ASU Papermill in Tempe, Arizona, draining paper moulds containing desert fiber pulp for Recordando las Animas (Remembering the Souls) and Unfinished Stories. Summer 2006. Poured paper moulds containing three types of desert fiber pulp ready for couching for Recordando las Animas (Remembering the Souls) and Unfinished Stories. Summer 2006. winter 2007 - 31 Desert Fiber Paper Sample marcia mcclellan and katherine nicholson For the Unfinished Stories installation, our concept required the creation of oneof- a-kind handmade paper sheets. During the papermaking process, we experimented by combining desert pulps in various ways to create unique pages to represent the immigrants' individual journeys. We allowed the distinctive characteristics of the natural fibers to direct the entire process. Consequently, each copy of this issue will contain a different paper sample tip-in reflecting the diversity of the desert and the immigrant stories. Fiber: We collected cholla, saguaro, prickly pear, mesquite, agave, yucca, palm, bamboo, and cattail fibers from the Arizona desert. Pre-Beating Preparation: We collected all woody fiber (saguaro, cholla, prickly pear, mesquite, bamboo, yucca) in the dry skeleton state and retted it in water for at least two months. Once retting was complete, we cut down the fiber and boiled it in lye for 6 to 17 hours. We collected soft fiber (palm, cattail) in a dry crisp state, cut it down, and boiled it in lye for 3 to 8 hours. For agave fiber, we collected it in the green leaf state, retted it in water for 2 weeks. We scraped it to remove the fiber, then dried, cut down, and boiled it for 6 to 7 hours in lye. After boiling, we rinsed all fibers thoroughly for 1 to 2 hours to remove lye residue. Beating: We beat all fibers separately in either a 1-pound Valley or a 2- pound Reina beater for various lengths of time. Additives: We added approximately 10 milliliters of internal sizing (diluted in 1 cup water) to each batch during the final 2 minutes of free beating. Sheet Forming: All pulps were poured into a variety of mould types and sizes. Pulps were mixed during the pouring process to create an assortment of color, texture, and pattern. Pressing and Drying: All paper sheets were pressed between woolen felts in a hydraulic press and dried between blotters in a forced air dryer.