Savvy Wood's pop-up library project celebrates black lit on Chicago's South Side
Savannah Wood is a force. She’s a strong-willed, purposeful creative with an infectious smile and wide, excited eyes under rounded, dark-rimmed glasses. We first met through Max in the lead-up to a 2012 art show curated by collective Native Thinghood in LA, when I entered their vegetarian potluck of floor-seated, cross-legged, barefooted 20-somethings laughing through shared realities of artistic successes and woes. After majoring in photography at USC, Ms. Wood has been involved in myriad creative projects, travelling the world and expanding her portfolio from photography to clothing to costume design. Most recently, the Baltimore-bred artist has up and moved Chicago to develop her vision for the Black Ink Book Exchange.
Through a humble Indiegogo campaign and individual book donations from all over the country, Savvy’s dream to create a pop-up library of books written by black authors, and about black culture, has become a reality. As of January the project has even expanded to house creative workshops, classes, meetings, and arts and crafts activities for families, hosted primarily on Chicago’s South Side. The library is based on a barter system–take a book, leave a book–and functions to host opportunities for folks to engage with their own history, with each other, and with the written word. “I am most interested in ‘good’ books,” reads her website, “books that have shaped the way you see yourself and the world, or books that you often recommend to friends.” To learn more about this journey, I hit Savannah up to ask her how the project is going, where it’s headed, and how we can all have a chance to engage with the Black Ink Book Exchange.
Can you tell me more about the Black Ink Book Exchange? How did you come to start it? What was your personal motivation?
The Book Exchange has a lot of conceptual parents. I’ve been working with Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates for the past 2 years, sometimes specifically on projects related to black books. During that time, I’ve worked out of a building where a group called Cream Co. operates General Economy Exquisite Exchange (G.E.E.E.), a project that allows you to trade a poem for a plant from their seed-bank. I think the books and the plant exchange got busy in my dreams, and a few months later, the idea for the Book Exchange was born.
Basically, Black Ink Book Exchange is a pop-up library full of books by and about black folks that is open for exchange. Bring a book, take a book. There are also workshops related to reading, writing and making–carving out time for creative expression.
Most projects that I start are directly related to something I want to work on for myself. I grew up around a ton of books, but didn’t read nearly as many as I wish I had. This project has challenged me to read more, to write more, and to make time for creating.
What was your goal when you were starting all of this? What is your goal now?
I wanted to collect 600 books initially. I didn’t anticipate how involved people would get! We now have over 1000 books donated from dozens of individual supporters, so, check! Now I’m trying to figure out the most efficient and impactful ways to keep the Exchange going. I pay artists to lead workshops, moving the books to new locations costs money, I need space for the workshops… How can these needs be met most efficiently? Figuring it out. Also, I want to apply for business school at some point, so as a challenge to myself, I want to build a good story around the mechanics of this project.
What has been the most interesting or inspiring thing to come out of the project?
The book donations really hit me hard. Like, might’ve shed a lil tear because they just kept coming! The range of people this has touched has also been really special. It’s a project about black culture and literature, but it has created a very diverse audience in terms of age, race, gender, etc. At one of the first workshops, there was a seven year old and a 70 year old working on poems at the same table. My lil heart just couldn’t take it!
For the folks at home, how does the Exchange function in physical space?
The Exchange changes from place to place, but the constants will be books, some marked in pink, some in green (pink open for exchange, green for reference only), a big table or two, and a hand-bound book to document the exchanges. People write in what they brought, what they took, and any notes they have about the books, the Exchange, whatever.
Where to from here? What do you see for the future of the Exchange? Where do you want to take it?
We could go a couple of different ways. Initially, I thought of this as a summer project, that would wrap up come September, but the response has been really great, so I may want to keep it going. In that case, anyone with a contact for Oprah should hit me up! There could be satellite sites in other cities with local organizers choosing the kinds of programming they want to see happen. This could travel with me as a kind of roving book residency. I’m open at this point, but will be narrowing my focus as the summer winds down.
For more information about Savvannah and the Black Ink Book Exchange, you can stay up to date with events through the project’s Facebook page, website, and hashtag #blackinkbe.
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