Smell the coffee
By: Gwen Simpson
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [publisher not identified]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England]
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; Libraries; Coffee in art; Coffee shops; Tea in art; Artists' books
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.

"Trying to understand something that happened in a place that at first felt so different from mine, was difficult, until I began to think about my own town and the coffee shops, booksellers and print shops. After a few false starts and complicated beginnings, I stumbled upon the idea of re-using dried coffee filters, cleaned, folded and torn into four with Coptic stitch to hold the pages together. Using only the coffee filters from my one morning cup of coffee, rather than set up a production line was important, as the message/poem on the inside of the front cover alludes to this ritual and meditative quality of that first peaceful morning cup of coffee"--Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Medium/Materials: Re-used coffee filters. Covers: tea bags and coffee filters. Coptic stitch-binding.

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.

"I made little books as a child. After leaving Harrow School of Art, I was a free-lance illustrator for 10 years. Now I am interested in learning about all aspects of the ART of the book. I would like to try an altered book, as I struggle with 'desecrating' a book, even if it is falling to pieces. I like to try new things, and push boundaries, I wish I was much bolder. Different things and people inspire me. Artists such as Elizabeth Frink, Rozanne Hawksley, and David Hockney. Grayson Perry is my all time favorite at the moment, and so is Margaret Cooter (a lady of a certain age like myself) with her blogs about lost words, and like Hockney and Perry, she is not afraid to try new things and/or to learn"--Artist's statement from Artbookart website (viewed July 20, 2015).

After leaving art college Gwen Simpson worked for 10 years as a freelance illustrator, followed by teaching in art school, adult education and also with children, followed by a change in career as an art therapist in the NHS. Gwen is now retired and exploring the wonderful world of book art.