On the island of Santorini, Greece, on a cliff at the edge of the Aegean Sea, there is a famous bookstore called Atlantis Books, which opened in 2004 and has brought further literary enhancement to the island, organizing artistic and cultural events and festivals with artists and authors of international stature, making it one of the important places visited by many famous authors who want to read their work to a captivated audience, as David Sedaris and Billy Collins have done.
Going down the stairs to the bookstore that is in a traditional cave, we find a striking mural by the Mexican artist Alma Ayon, which is praised by the hundreds of visitors that it attracts to enter this magical bookstore. This work shows books that fall from the shelves, with texts by well-known authors, inviting us to continue reading and descending down the stairs to discover the mystery behind the wall. These books fly, they want to talk, they fall scattered, eager to be read, shouting their fuss and with their impulse for the reader to travel to new worlds through them. That is why they pile up and open up. They don’t want to stay on the shelves, no. Their destiny is beyond, perhaps in remaining in the minds of the readers, transcending, their reason for being. They invite you to come in, in that unconventional bookstore. The effect that this vision generates on the viewer is provocative, it shakes a lot and is able to propel you to the literary venue with great enthusiasm.
Visit the artist’s website for more of her work.
