Jagged stones
By: by Anita Barrows ; artwork by Ciel McKay
Contributors: Baird, Mary Louise, 1948-; McKay, Ciel; Bixler, Michael; Bixler, Winifred; Quelquefois Press; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: Quelquefois Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Berkeley, Calif
Language: eng
Subjects: War victims; Poetry; Political refugees; Witnesses; War and civilization; Violence; Bombings; Iraq War, 2003-2011
Notes: "Set in Dante by the Bixlers, and printed on Mohawk by Mary Risala Laird and Anita Barrows. Brillianta cloth drummed over Letra in a sewn boards binding using red linen thread and black goatskin straps. ... There are one hundred fifteen copies in the edition." Colophon. Signed by Barrows, McKay and Laird.

Seven linoleum cuts by Ciel McKay, Anita Barrows' eleven-year old granddaughter; one cut by Anita Barrows; and one by Mary Risala Laird, a portrait of Ciel.

"The book, dedicated to the people of Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq, consists of four long poems, plus an opening piece, and a long introduction and equally informative colophon, ending with 'In gratitude to all those keeping alive the spirit of al Mutanabbi Street'. The powerful pieces speak eloquently."--Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website (viewed June 3, 2021).

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 Coalition. This work was created as part of their artists' books project.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.