A uniquely told immigrant story, Amalgam is populated by impressionistic figures, rendered with piercing faces that stare down the reader as if out of an old photograph. The narrative follows Abram, or “Abe,” a Polish Jew who immigrates to America for economic opportunity. He is a passionate arbitrator and advocate in his union but an unyielding patriarchal tyrant at home. In a patchwork of linocuts, keyholes, and hinges, Frances Jetter uncovers the convictions and contradictions that make up the tapestry of Abe’s life and so many others’. In these pages are mini epics depicting the struggle of workers; haunting vignettes of abandoned dolls and forgotten friends; and a love letter to Jetter’s mother, Rose, who hovers in the artist’s mind like a ghost. Twelve years in the making, Amalgam is a profound, multimedia meditation on memory and legacy.
Frances Jetter worked on Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn during her 2017-2018 Fellowship at the Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. She will discuss her book with award-winning graphic novelist Peter Kuper.
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