Image recreation
By: by John W. Retallack
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [John W. Retallack]
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Rochester, NY]
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; Emotions in art; Memory in art; Artists' 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.

"The images here are recreations; they might have been seen on that day. My intention is to provoke indignation and to keep this event in memory. Events such as this can not be allowed to drop away from the continuum of human history."

"I am a photographer of people with experience in editorial and advertising. I'm comfortable working with direction, either from a distance or on site. My portraits are about the subject, they are character studies. They should be fun to look at ... To me each photo session is a social event, and I enjoy the dynamics. Each moment is precious, and is an opportunity to produce significant images. Given all this ... sometimes a meaningful photograph ... is just a matter of pushing the button at the right moment. Most of what I shoot is lighted with electronic flash, all is digital. My studio is located Downtown Rochester NY"--The artist's personal website (viewed July 14, 2015).
Notes: Printed in an edition of five.

Medium: accordian-style book, with image concepts from personal research into car bombs, as used in Iraq and the Al-Mutanabbi Street bombing. Photos were done in studio, using electronic flash. Digital capture of the images was done with a Nikon D-800 camera, and were processed in Phototshop CS6. The font is a true type font made from the artist's own hand-lettering. Printing was done on an Epson 3880 printer using Hahnemühle photo rag paper.

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.