In May of 2011, Richard Misrach hired Boon to create two custom ledger books to commemorate the 20th anniversary of  the East Bay hills firestorm of October 20, 1991. In conjunction with exhibitions at the Oakland Museum of California and the Berkeley Art Museum, two volumes, one for each museum, function as an interactive component of these and all future exhibits of the photographs. Visitors are encouraged to share their recollections, tributes and insights.

Boon worked closely with our longtime collaborator, John DeMerritt (master bookbinder and artist in his own right) to select unique materials and production techniques that reflected our own love of ledger books we have experienced in our pasts. John sourced incredible hand made paper for the front cover, which was both wax embossed on the front and black foiled on the back. We were also fortunate that Jeff Mendelsohn of New Leaf Paper donated all of the paper for the interior pages, which are mostly ruled for participants to record their feelings. The paper had to be short grain to accomodate the spring back binding—a very old and traditional binding technique that allows ledger books to snap open and lay perfectly flat. Another detail we integrated is the use of a sequential date stamp (similar to real ledgers) that is stamped at the start of each day to signal the moment in time of a visitor’s contribution.

We encourage you to visit both the museums to experience Richard’s photographs, explore the additional contributions and reflections of the community who survived this tragedy, and at the very least to truly appreciate the craft and love that went into these books. We want to sincerely thank Richard and John for their creative spirit — it was an honor to work with them on this living artefact. Read more about our thinking at the Berkeleyside, and more about the exhibitions at the Bay Citizen.