Syracuse University Exhibit Highlights Censored Literature
A new gallery display at Bird Library explores the history of the fictional character Celia suppressed during the Franco era.
Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Books
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Syracuse University graduate student Juliana Acosta has opened an exhibit at Bird Library titled Celia: A Story that Persists. The installation highlights the literary history of a character censored by the Franco dictatorship in Spain.
Why it matters
The exhibit examines how political regimes restricted childhood reading materials and aims to reclaim narratives once suppressed by state authorities. It provides a unique look at how archival research can bring forgotten literary history back to light.
The author behind the series, Elena Fortún, wrote 20 novels, yet only 2 of these books have been translated into English. The collection now on display includes posthumous works published as recently as 2022.
The players
Juliana Acosta
She is a Syracuse University graduate student and the artist behind the Celia: A Story that Persists exhibition.
Elena Fortún
She was the pseudonym used by author Encarnación Aragoneses to write the Celia book series.
The details
Juliana Acosta created an interactive display that invites visitors to place messages inside large hollow letters that spell out the character's name. A centerpiece of the gallery is a dress Acosta fashioned using pages from the novel Celia institutriz, which was actively monitored and censored by the Spanish regime in 1946.
Timeline
The Celia series was first published in 1929.
Celia institutriz was subject to regime monitoring in 1946.
The novel Celia en la revolución was published posthumously in 1987.
The book Oculto sendero was published in 2016.
The exhibit concludes on Nov. 5, 2026.
Industry Dynamics
This project highlights a broader cultural trend of archiving and re-evaluating literature that was historically silenced by authoritarian regimes. By focusing on the Franco dictatorship's literary censorship, the work bridges academic research with contemporary public exhibition strategies.
Visitors to Bird Library can view the exhibition on the fourth floor until it concludes in November. The interactive nature of the display allows guests to contribute their own messages to the gallery space throughout the run of the show.
The takeaway
The exhibit illustrates the endurance of storytelling even when faced with aggressive state censorship. It encourages readers to seek out marginalized voices and understand the historical context behind the books they encounter.
Further reading
Learn more about literary history and preservation in the Books section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Daily Orange.
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