Dear Al-Mutanabbi Street
By: Patricia Sarrafian Ward
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [Patricia Sarrafian Ward]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Maynard, MA]
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; Cultural property; Destruction and pillage; Toy and movable books; Miniature books; Grief in art; Space and time in art; Memory 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.

"I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon during the civil war, and when I was invited to participate in this project, my own memories rose up, illuminating the connection across time and space between myself and this event. I found myself looking backwards, re-experiencing the anguish of that time, and this became my response to the survivors of Al-Mutanabbi Street - through confronting my own pain, I was compelled to face theirs in a visceral, real way. Every collage in my book was made with al-Mutanabbi Street in mind, in silent empathy and condolence"--Artist's statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website
Notes: Printed in an edition of 3.

Medium: Collage, miniature book.

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.

"Patricia Sarrafian Ward was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon and is of American-Armenian-Danish heritage. She moved to the United States at the age of eighteen. She holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan, where she received numerous awards, including Hopwood Awards in Novel and Short Fiction. Her novel, The bullet collection, about two sisters growing up in wartime Beirut, was published by Graywolf Press in 2003. Her short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, and she has held residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Chateau de Lavigny, Switzerland. In the past several years, Ward has devoted her time to book arts. She is a Member of the Center for Book Arts in NYC, where she was awarded a Fellowship for the Fine Press & Letterpress Printing Seminar in 2005. She is also a member of Gallery 263 in Cambridge, ArtSpace-Maynard, and Concord Art Association, Massachusetts. Her work has been shown in several galleries in the Boston area; upcoming shows include a solo in May 2013 at Gallery 263. She lives in the lovely town of Maynard, MA with her husband and son"--The artist's website (viewed July 30, 2015)

In English, translated from Arabic.