Santa Barbara Save US — Alejandro Cartagena — Skinnerboox — 2020

Santa Barbara Save US closes Alejandro Cartagena’s trilogy on the United States with a vision of political and cultural uncertainty. Photographs and archive material meet in a sequence where scenes of daily life sit beside images of fire and destruction. Their juxtaposition makes the familiar feel unstable, suggesting how public anxiety can enter ordinary spaces and reshape their meaning. Rather than presenting a single explanatory account, Cartagena builds connections through repetition, contrast and the tensions between facing pages. Jonathan Blaustein’s introduction draws attention to fire as a recurring force within the project: an image of fear, engulfment and the scars left behind. Published in 2020, this final volume gives the trilogy a bleak, unresolved conclusion, asking what can remain of a shared future when the present feels increasingly divided.

Technical Sheet
Artist and book concept: Alejandro Cartagena
Publisher: Skinnerboox
Published: November 2020
Edition: First edition, standard trade edition; 750 copies
Pages: 112
Illustrations: Colour and black-and-white
Dimensions: 23 × 34 cm
Binding: Velvet softcover with hot-foil lettering
Language: English
Design: Milo Montelli and Alejandro Cartagena
Cover design and lettering: Valentina Casali
Editors: Cristina Kennington, Fernando Gallegos and Alejandro Cartagena
Introduction: Jonathan Blaustein
ISBN: 9788894895414