Recent Titles

Xerox text with hand-painted cardboard covers
Cover size 8" x 6"
Each cover is unique

Argentina’s economy collapsed in 2001 causing thousands of people to lose their jobs. The “cartoneros” were born of this crisis. Cartoneros make a meager living by scavenging for cardboard and paper, which are sold to recyclers. Early in 2003, a group of artists and writers came together to figure out a way to help the cartoneros earn a better wage more regular employment and formed the alternative publishing house and artist collective, Eloísa Cartonera. Eloísa Cartonera was founded by writer Santiago Vega (who publishes under the name Washington Cucurto) and the visual artist Javier Barilaro. Eloísa Cartonera buys the cardboard at up to five times the market value and uses the material to create unique covers for a series of books, which they sell to finance the purchase of more cardboard. Some cartoneros are also employed to help print the texts and paint the covers. Each book is unique and therefore your book may not match those shown in the photo. For questions about individual titles please contact The Print Center directly.