El grito mudo
Subtitle: The silent shout
By: Marcela Peral
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [Marcela Peral]
Published: 2013
Place of publication: [Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina]
Language: spa
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; Mail art; Conceptual art; Pain in art; Horror in art; Miniature books; Artists' books
Other titles: Silent shout
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.

"This miniature book expresses the horror and pain caused by the attack on Al-Mutanabbi Street. The woodcut images are printed over literature magazine pages, to reinforce the concept of the power of the printed words, opinions and thoughts freely expressed that invite anyone to open their mind. The white, black and red colours are in strong contrast, ones that remain after the tragic events in this crowded street where innocent people lost their lives and so many books destroyed"--Artist's statement from the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

"I'm a visual artist and teacher at the School of Visual Arts N° 3031 'Manuel Belgrano' - Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina. I have taken part in national and international exhibitions since 1995. In 2009, I joined some websites to work on collaborative projects in mail art and artists' books, exploring objects' construction and recycling, printmaking, and visual poetry. I document all these processes on my blogs, sharing other artists' works and thoughts, and generating my own projects"--Artist's blog (viewed July 8, 2015).
Notes: Printed in an edition of 5, numbered and signed.

Medium: Woodcut and collage on Canson magazine 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.

Text in Spanish.