The tartar steppe

The Tartar steppe is a conceptual editorial project for the book “Il deserto dei Tartari” by Dino Buzzati. The name of the hero (Giovanni Drogo) has been cut out from all the places in which it appears in the book to literally show the fact that Drogo himself is missing from his own life. He is a passive character throughout the entire book. He can be everyone and no one. 31 photos of soldiers (just like him) from that era were introduced in some of the pages of the book. Those, however, were covered with a removable black sticker in order to conceal their faces. The idea is that, as you reveal them, each of these soldiers can represent Drogo because he himself does not have any true identity of his own.

The binding is a Swiss bare-spine hard cover in order to give the same idea of revealing- when you open the book you can see the spine reveal the fragile part of the book and of the hero- his passiveness.

The only chapter in the middle of the book where Drogo's name isn't mentioned at all was printed on grey paper to further highlight this anomaly.

Made In collaboration with Nadeen Mashini.