War and peace
By: Elena Mary Siff
Contributors: Mao, Zedong, 1893-1976, author; Rankin, Jeannette, 1880-1973, author; Mutanabbī, Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn, 915 or 916-965, author; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [E.M. Siff]
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Santa Monica, Calif.]
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; American Collage; War in art; Peace in art; Miniature books; Assemblage (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.

"Creating my 3 books, I used handmade paper in a miniature format ... an intimate narrative with a quote by Al Mutanabbi: 'If you see the teeth of the lion, do not think the lion is smiling at you.' I included other quotes by writers and philosophers concerning the futility of war throughout the ages. I burned fragments of the paper I made, and attached the fragments to the pages of each book ... destruction in the midst of poetry and enlightenment"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 3.

Medium: Collage, handmade paper.

Includes several well-known quotes on the subjects of war and peace. One quote is from Mao Tse-Tung: "Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed." Another quote is from Jeanette Rankin: "You can no more win a war, than you can win an earthquake."

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.

As a collage and assemblage artist, Elena Mary Siff's unique books are an extension of her work in mixed media. The sculptural works and text pieces derive from her background in assemblage art, where she has an established reputation. Siff has been creating books as part of her exploration of visual space, volume, movement and color for many years. She is constantly exploring and expanding the artistic paradigms of the book as object. Her work is in the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, the UCLA and UCSD Special Collections Libraries, and the Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.C., among others. Her books have been in international book festivals in Ireland, Vilnius, and the Seoul Korea Book Arts Fair.