In 2016 Abigail Reynolds became the third winner of the BMW Art Journey award, for a project titled ‘Lost Libraries of the Silk Road.’ For this, she made a five-month journey to fifteen sites of libraries along the Silk Road, that have been lost to political conflict, natural catastrophe, revolution, and war. The film 'Lost Libraries' is a meditation on this journey. 

Abigail often draws inspiration from literature to imagine places and moments from the past, present and future. Her project for the BMW Art Journey Award was conceived from this deep connection to libraries and literature. It was designed to allow her to connect the complex religious and secular narratives of Europe and Asia through visits to historic or fabled repositories of books.

Her journey was based on extensive research and took her to libraries lost from 291 BCE to 2011 along the whole length of the Silk Road – in China, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and Iran. Along the way, Abigail gathered material on 16mm film, and by written text. A book documenting her travels is published with Hatje Cantz - thus completing a journey that both starts and ends with the institution of the library.