Fragments of memory & desire
By: Anna Corbett
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: Northumberland, 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; Memory; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Other titles: Fragments of memory and desire
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.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 4.

Material: Concertina binding, tied with ribbon.

"This set of books is a compilation of fragments from contributors, found items and extracts from well-known poems. Each book contains different material, assembled from the same contributors and bound in a concertina form. Coming late to the project I needed help to meet the deadline, and decided to ask for help from my own 'coalition.' Contributors were asked to respond to the title 'Fragments of memory and desire' in any way they liked, bearing in mind the impetus for the project and its origins in al-Mutanabbi Street. Guidelines were to use paper that had been used before, so it would automatically have a 'memory.' Size was limited to no larger than a postcard. Each person was invited to send up to four items, either the same or different. Twenty-seven people took part, most sending 1 or 2 items, a few sending 3 or 4. Here are stories of past events, some from childhood; significant book titles; poems composed specially; single words from favourite nursery rhymes; diary entries from the date of the bombing; some lists: of everyday delights, of family cats, of good things wished for; a note to the fishman and one from a lover; the bare bones of a long journey; a recipe to mend a broken heart; a thankyou letter and more. Found items were collected from old books, slipped between the pages years ago, with no way of knowing their origins. They include a telegram from 1937; a design sketch for a piece of machinery; a map of the maze at Hampton Court from an outing in 1878; a request for biscuits, toys and sweets written in a child's hand, perhaps a Christmas wish list? There is no way of knowing"--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.