The Assembly Hall of the Pancho Lasso Art School in Arrecife hosted this Thursday, January 26, the presentation of "War Letters", a book published by the Cabildo of Lanzarote and illustrated by Nicole Paysse Paullier, a student of the aforementioned educational center and great-granddaughter of the author of the letters collected in the publication and which is the result of the end-of-year project she carried out at the school.
In addition to its author, the presentation of the book was attended by the Councilor of the Publications Service of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Myriam Barros, the director of the Pancho Lasso Art School, Manuel Perdomo, and the Projects professor at the time of the book's gestation, Begoña Carrasco.
Barros highlighted "the importance of recovering the memory of those who suffered the war and that their testimonies do not fall into oblivion" as has been done with the publication of this book, which compiles the letters that a Spanish doctor, assigned to the front during the Civil War, sent to his family exiled in Uruguay.
Likewise, the Councilor of the Cabildo of Lanzarote highlighted the "impressive" work done by Nicole Paysse. "Every time I read this book, my skin crawls," said Myriam Barros.
Similarly, the director of the Pancho Lasso Art School, Manuel Perdomo, and the professor of the educational center, Begoña Carrasco, praised the "effort" of the young illustrator to fulfill her great-grandfather's dream of seeing his memoirs published and his "exquisite sensitivity" when carrying out the project.
"She brought us an idea that at first I didn't know how to grasp, but her drive, her capacity for sacrifice, for overcoming obstacles, and her passion for reading, her family, and illustration have made it possible," said Begoña Carrasco, who also conveyed her gratitude to the Cabildo and its Councilor Myriam Barros for making it happen and "not hesitating for a second" to support the initiative.
During the event, some of the photographs of the book's gestation process were also shown, as well as a message from Nicole Paysse's grandmother, who thanked her granddaughter "for having known how to recognize the moral value and the love for humanity in these sad and valuable letters, which are a legacy of suffering and the horror of a war."
The writings collected in "War Letters" are the testimony of Antonio, a doctor by profession, who served in the Republican side during the Civil War and who, during those years, was transferred to different places in the Spanish geography. The protagonist had two desires that he continuously expressed in his letters: that of achieving health and education for the people, where there was no inequality between the poor and the rich; and the irrenunciable desire for family reunification.