Trace
By: Lindsay McCulloch
Contributors: Mutanabbī, Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn, 915 or 916-965, poet; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Washington, DC?]
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; Books and reading; Psychological aspects; 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.

"Trace is an attempt to understand the far-reaching impact of books. The attack on al-Mutanabbi Street hurt those seeking knowledge, solace, or vision in books, and thus my subject became the reader. The images on the cover are created from digital scans of fingerprints lifted from discarded library books. I chose library books because they have passed through the hands of countless people over many years; the trace of a person's contact with the books is hidden from the naked eye, but exists nonetheless. I have sealed the pages of the library books, so they may no longer be read"--Artist's statement from the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

Lindsay McCulloch's work includes paintings, prints, installations, drawings, and artist books. McCulloch received her Master of Fine Arts in painting from Boston University. She has exhibited her work internationally in museums and galleries including Casa del Lector in Madrid, Spain; the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, MA; Bowery Gallery in New York City, NY; and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX. McCulloch holds various awards, including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship and a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship for painting. Her work is featured in public and private collections in the United States and abroad.
Notes: Medium: Accordion-bound digital pigment prints with found book pages.

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.