Vital Signs - Softcover

Photos by Thomas McGovern of hand-made signs and murals throughout California's Inland Empire, poems by Juan Delgado. The book will preserve the narrative and visual culture of the area, which is under threat by urban renewal and development.

The product of six years of reflection and documentation, Vital Signs takes us on a walk through one of California's largest cities: San Bernardino--generally presented in the media as a center of urban blight and high crime. In this passionate collaboration, poet Juan Delgado and photographer Thomas McGovern celebrate the working-class Latino communities of the Inland Empire and the intensity of their stories. Pairing Delgado's piercing poems with McGovern's photos of hand-painted signs and murals, Vital Signs preserves the narrative and visual culture of the urban landscape and reveals a community rich in emotion and vernacular art.