Liber sum, sum liber
By: Carolyn Trant
Contributors: Parvenu Press; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [Parvenu Press]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Lewes, England]
Language: eng
Subjects: Violence; Pictorial works; Booksellers and bookselling; Bombings; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Protest movements; Books and reading in art; Intellectual life; Social conditions; Censorship; Terrorism in art; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Visual literature; Specimens; Artists' books; Toy and movable books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Description: This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content.

"Originally a painter, I have been making artists books for 20 years: mostly woodcut books, but also collagraphs and drypoint. Editions range from 30-3, and I have made some single sculptural pieces, like BlueBeard's castle and Beauty and the beast, and one large installation, The falcon bride. Some books are codex or concertina format, some use cut-out or pop-up techniques or turn into carousels. Sometimes the box or slipcase is an artwork in itself. My work has been bought by individual and institutional collections across the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA, including the V & A National Art Library, British Library, Tate and the American Library of Congress. I show regularly at the Whitechapel London Art Book Fair and Oxford Fine Press Fair and others - you can check the news link or my blog to see where I am exhibiting next"--The artist's website (viewed July 27, 2015).
Notes: Printed in an edition of 3.

"Three books made to commemorate Al-Mutanabbi Street. To design a book for such a project is fraught with pitfalls; sentiment can become sentimental; cultural differences can conceal pitfalls. Books inspire words, although form and images can be enough. I am aware of my ignorance of all the glories of Arabic literature. I have used words from three poets, Rumi, Hafez and our contemporary Hamid Mokhtar, which can be construed many ways and may promote debate. For all people, books in their many differing forms, are repositories, vital, precious, life blood. On the covers I have used the Latin tag - Liber sum, sum liber - I am free, I am a book"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

On March 5th, 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi Street is located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. It has been the longstanding heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community for centuries. In response to the attack, a San Francisco poet and bookseller, Beau Beausoleil, rallied a community of international artists and writers to produce a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides (poster-like works on paper), artists' books (unique works of art in book form), and an anthology of writing, all focused on expressing solidarity with Iraqi booksellers, writers and readers. The coalition of contributing artists calls itself Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.