El viaje más caro
The Most Costly Journey
Stories of Migrant Farmworkers in Vermont Drawn by New England Cartoonists
EDITED BY: Marek Bennett, Julia Grand Doucet, Andy Kolovos, & Teresa Mares
FEATURED ARTISTS: Tillie Walden / Marek Bennett / Kevin Kite / Iona Fox / Kane Lynch / Teppi Zuppo / John Carvajal / Michael Tonn / Angela Boyle / Rick Veitch / Glynnis Fawkes / Greg Giordano / Ezra Veitch / Shashwat Mishra / Michelle Sayles
FOREWORD: Julia Alvarez
PREFACE: Julia Grand Doucet
INTRODUCTION: Stephen R. Bissette
AFTERWORD: Teresa Mares & Andy Kolovos
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“By calling attention to the mental health needs of Latin American workers on Vermont dairy farms the El Viaje Más Caro project exposes the suffering born of secrecy, and the unnecessary pain cultivated by the cruelty of our current immigration system. These comics open a doorway to healing for these economic migrants—and bring their experiences to light for all Americans in search of compassionate solutions to our immigration crisis.”
This non-fiction comics anthology presents stories of survival and healing told by Latin American migrant farmworkers in Vermont, and drawn by New England cartoonists as part of the El Viaje Más Caro Project–a health care outreach effort of the Open Door Clinic and UVM Extension Bridges to Health aimed at addressing the overlooked mental health needs of these vulnerable immigrants. Originally distributed to farm workers as individual Spanish language comic books, this collected edition brings the lives and voices–as well as the challenges and hardships–of these workers to an English-language audience, granting insight into the experiences and lives of the people vital to producing the food we eat.
“This rich and inspiring project is doing the work of oral history, narrative medicine, ethnography, and graphic medicine.”
Featuring a foreword by Julia Alvarez (Afterlife), introduction by Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing) and preface by project founder, nurse Julia Doucet, these inspiring stories grapple with issues encountered by migrant workers everywhere–isolation, separation, depression, substance abuse–even as they celebrate resilience, family, community, and the ability of each storyteller to direct their own healing narrative. The Most Costly Journey is a gripping work that draws together non-fiction cartooning, graphic medicine and ethnography, channeling the skills of health care practitioners, artists and ethnographers into helping alleviate the pain of others.
El Viaje Más Caro is a partnership between the Open Door Clinic, Vermont Folklife Center, UVM Extension Bridges to Health, UVM Anthropology and Marek Bennett’s Comics Workshop.
Publication of the English language book was made possible by our generous backers on Kickstarter.
“It’s hard to imagine other peoples’ lives. It’s harder still when those lives are hidden from public view. But in this book, the unimaginably difficult experiences of migrant and immigrant farmworkers are made vividly accessible. Through their own words, and the simple, direct drawings of their cartoonist collaborators, we see how they got here, what they’ve left behind, and what their long, long days are like. The original goal of this project was to give their subjects a voice, but every North American should read this book in order to understand the disturbing degree to which we all depend on the self-sacrifice of these workers. El Viaje Más Caro is a profound act of witness.”
Press:
Bennington Banner, Mark Rondeau: “'The Most Costly Journey' illustrates the trials, triumphs of Vermont's migrant farmworkers." September 13, 2021.
Boston Globe, Nina MacLaughlin: “A graphic anthology of migration stories...” July 1, 2021.
Burlington Free Press, Melissa Pasanen: “In New Graphic Anthology 'Most Costly Journey,' Vermont’s Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories.” October 13, 2021.
Morning Edition, Vermont Public Radio, Mitch Wertlieb: “A New Way To Look At The World': Cartoonists Collaborate With Farmworkers In 'El Viaje Mas Caro.’” June 24, 2021.
Times Argus/Rutland Herald, Janelle Faignan: "The Most Costly Journey’: Immigrant farm workers share with comic artists." July 3, 2021.