Micki Watanabe Spiller

A gaggle of five to ten “Reading Outlaws” strut 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.