Arte Papel Oaxaca

In August of 2003 I visited the beautiful Arte Papel Oaxaca center in San Agustin Etla outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. That's me in the foreground with the beard (photo by S. Purata, thx). The facility, created in the old Comisión Federal de Electricidad buildings in Etla, was founded in 1997 by the Mexican artist Francisco Toledo to promote the use of local plant fibers and conserve traditional papermaking technologies. 

I bought a small journal made from chichicastle (Urtica baccifera L.) fibers in the Arte Papel Oaxaca shop, and I have carried it with me everywhere over the last nine years. Unfortunately, my pack is not waterproof and a lot of the writing in the journal blurred into emptiness during an unexpected downpour in northern Myanmar. [NOTE: This cherished booklet of handmade paper is still a permanent fixture in my shoulder bag].