For al-Mutanabbi Street
By: Gionna Forte-Towaco
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: [Gionna Forte-Towaco]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Hoboken, New Jersey]
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; Order; 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.

"I am currently an artist and teacher working out of New Jersey. I make books, paper and ceramics. My work focuses on the art of making. Making as in regards to the artistic process, and objects or ideas representing the woman's role in the household. I learned about An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street from my book-making teacher. She brought her book into class, and explained about the project. She offered information to anyone who was interested. Books, for me, are very much a cultural standard, and with the current new use of Kindles and Nooks, I feel my culture changing. With the loss of culture that happened and is happening everywhere, I felt the connection and wanted to participate in this project"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Medium: Paper, thread.

"My books focus on removal, renewal and order. Removal from the original and what it was. Renewal in moving forward and embracing change. Order by getting things back to the way they were. I used blown-up photocopies of manipulated Polaroids and transferred the images onto the pages. I cut a piece out of every book I own to sacrifice a piece of my books and culture. Then I visually composed a story of turmoil and revival with the juxtaposition of images and text. On the inside between with pages and spine, the gold thread represents the support we, the artists, have for those suffering their losses"--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.