As long ...
By: Anna Mavromatis
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: [A. Mavromatis]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: [Houston, TX]
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; Humanity 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 design and content for my Al-Mutanabbi Street book was formed as a therapeutic approach to the strong emotions I felt while reading the 'news' of the event; it is based on my belief, hope and wish for humanity's survival. I don't usually have text in my works, but this time I felt necessary to include my written 'explanation:' As long as we breathe, as long as we reason, as long as we love and fall in love, There will be stories written, history will be told, The Al-Mutanabbi streets of the world, will always exist, will always flourish"--Artist's statement from the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

Anna Mavromatis is an artist illustrating her 'stories' through numerous mediums and formats. Her work incorporates elements of traditional eastern and western printmaking practices, as well as digitally generated imagery. Anna applies both modern and ancient printmaking and paper staining techniques in the design and construction of one of a kind and small edition artists' books, whose structure and assembly is greatly influenced by her studies and training in architecture and fashion design. Her works are found in private and public collections around the world. Anna was born in Greece, educated in Italy and Great Britain and lives in Houston, Texas.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 5.

Medium: ink trace/monotypes on brown paper, archival pigmented digital print on Hahnemuhle.

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.