Olga Coqui Lopez & Mirtes Zwierzynski

Paralelos [Parallels] [Latine, pedagogy, youth artwork]

Chicago: Editorial Guazábara, 1985. Saddle stapled in wraps. 8 ½ x 5 ¼ in. 22pp. Text in Spanish. Very good. Item #10558

Rare 1985 Chicago artists book with text in Spanish, reproducing linocut illustrations and writings by Puerto Rican community members – primarily teens – at the Centro Cultural Ruiz Belvis in Chicago. 

Established in 1971, the center was named in honor of Segundo Ruiz Belvis, a Puerto Rican patriot and member of a secret abolitionist society that freed children who had been enslaved under Spanish rule. It is credited as the longest-standing Latino Cultural Center in Chicago, with a mission to preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and Latin America, with a focus on its African heritage. 

This book documents the thoughts and art practices of teenage kids who spent time at Belviz; their writing in this book includes poetry, concerns about the neighborhood, violence, and nostalgia for Puerto Rico, and the book is illustrated throughout with black-and-white reproductions of the young artists’ linocuts.

Not located in OCLC as of April 2026.

Price: $250.00