I want to become a prophet
By: Raphael Vella ; with selected verses from Al-Mutanabbi
Contributors: Mutanabbī, Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn, 915 or 916-965, author; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Valletta, Malta]
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; Cultural property; Destruction and pillage; Politics in art; Poets in art; Children in art; Artists' books
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.

"The artist's book, 'I want to become a prophet' links my current work in other media with the name of the street, Al-Mutanabbi. The street name refers to the great medieval Iraqi poet, Al-Mutanabbi (915-965), whose name actually means, 'the one who wanted to become a prophet.' Al-Mutanabbi's nickname is also related to the poet's rather arrogant sense of pride and tendency to boast, even in his verses, as well as his personal political ambitions. His poetry, in fact, often deals with acts of courage, panegyrics, and battles, and his own death (he was killed in a conflict) is possibly linked to his sense of superiority. In 'I want to become a prophet, ' photographs of different 'famous' children are transferred onto both sides of thin Japanese paper, which is then varnished to amplify its transparency. The faces on both sides merge into each other and become difficult to recognise. Do these little boys all want to grow into 'prophets?' Will their visions contribute to humanity's growth, or to further destruction and death, like that experienced by the bookshop owners of al-Mutanabbi Street? Verses from the poetry of Al-Mutanabbi (translated into English) are also included in the book, adding to the complex and multi-layered reading of the faces and identities. Throughout 2011, I have been working on a series of drawings of well-known male figures in international political arenas. All these drawings represent these individuals when they were children, and hence, still 'unrecognisable, ' and unknown to the general public, and they invariably look 'cute' and innocent. Indeed, at that age, the faces do not tell us much about the differences that separate an Adolf Hitler from a Pope John Paul II. These drawings have been shown at the Nakagawa gallery in Tokyo in August 2011, and at St James Cavalier in Malta, in December 2011"--Artist's statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 4.

Medium: Photo transfers on Japanese paper.

"Loose paper inserted to prevent images sticking to each other"--Cardboard cover.

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.

Raphael Vella is an artist based in Malta. He studied Art and Art Education at the University Of Malta, and successfully completed a Ph. D. in Fine Art at The University Of the Arts, London. He has shown his work internationally, including Modern Art Oxford in the UK, Dan Haag Sculptuur in Holland, Domaine Pommery in Reims, France, and Nakagawa Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. In 2011, he also curated an international exhibition called 'I Fought the X and the X won' at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cluj-Napoca in Romania, and the National Museum of Fine Arts Valetta, Malta.

In English, translated from Arabic.