Is it a book or a stack of tortillas? Why not both? Ioulia Ahkmadeeva’s Memories of Nitxtamal, is meant, per the artist, to be “my ‘tortilla-page-memory,’ past and present, all in a single container, together randomly, memories like tortillas—a daily food. My past and my present are together.”

Born in Russia, Ahkmadeeva emigrated to Mexico in the early 1990s. Much of her work is centered on issues of identity and belonging.

This artist’s book is a collection of 22 unbound pages, or tortillas, snuggled inside an antique traditional Mexican hand-embroidered tablecloth. The handmade pages are meant to look and feel coarse, mimicking the appearance of tortillas. The pages are decorated with images that are meaningful to the artist’s life, or incorporate elements that speak to the natural beauty of Mexico.

Creative book in a tortilla warmer.Creative book in a tortilla warmer.