Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo discuss their book ELADATL in the ‘On Futures’ video series

Feb 2, 2022

Arturo Ernesto Romo and Sesshu Foster in Los Angeles

On Futures is a series highlighting how designers, artists, curators, and writers envision alternative cultural and architectural temporalities that map out an expansive range of possible futures. It’s produced by SCI-Arc, an architectural school in Los Angeles.

From their website:

Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo are authors of ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines. A surrealist history that flows backwards and forwards in time, their novel tells a utopian story about airships and revolution—including how groups like the East LA Balloon Club and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club were hard at work to revolutionize travel, with an aim to literally lift oppressed people out of racism and poverty. The text, a series overlapping narratives and imagined artifacts, grew out of a long collaboration between Foster and Romo and is accompanied by drawings, collages, and photographs.

Based in Alhambra, CA, Foster is an award-winning writer. He taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Romo was born and lives in Los Angeles. His artwork, mostly collaborative mixed media works and drawing, has been circulated internationally.

Watch the video below!

More about ELADATL, Sesshu and Arturo’s acclaimed novel published by City Lights in 2021.

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