In October 2023, for the Art in Odd Places festival, The Banned Books Banditos, a gaggle consisting of 10+ “Reading Outlaws”, strutted along 14th Street to the soundtrack of Ennio Morricone’s Westerns, wearing bandoliers made of embroidered leather and felt, each carrying a book that has been banned in the past, such as Slaughterhouse 5, The Color Purple, and The Catcher in the Rye, etc. The design takes inspiration from bandoliers that have been used to carry guns in the old west, thus turning the books into weapons of knowledge.  As our country continues to ban books and restrict knowledge, there is a parallel to weaponizing books and the danger of reading ensues. 

The bandoliers are made of felt and leather, embroidered with dates and locations of the banning of each book, either on the outside or the inside lining. I hope to also display them in bookstores around the time of banned book week with 10% of sale proceeds being donated to an organization who is fighting the good fight defending the right to read!