Meditation on one hundred and thirty
By: Mary Goldthwaite-Gagne
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: [Mary Goldthwaite-Gagne]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: [Peterborough, NH]
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; Memory in art; Artists' books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Other titles: Meditation on 130
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"The things that I make are inspired by everyday life and pay homage to traditional handcraft, outdated technology, and modest materials. I am interested in meditative handwork processes, memory, and remnants of past generations. I participate in many endeavours that strive to make art accessible to the community-at-large and people of all ages"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 3.

Mixed media drawing.

"This project took me a long time to begin. I felt paralysed by the weight of the event that is being memorialized. I have never known war firsthand. I eventually came to using the materials in my studio that I use the most: paper & knife, needle & thread, and ink. My book is actually more of a package. It is a hand-printed envelope which contains 3 drawings - one in ink on muslin, the second stitched into a napkin, and the third a cut paper piece. Each component (including the envelope) features one hundred and thirty marks. The process of making these objects allowed me to create space in my mind to honour the people who were killed or injured on March 5, 2007"--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.