For the past and future of Al-Mutanabbi Street
By: Libby Scarlett
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: London, 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; Historic districts; Architecture 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.

"The thirty nets in the book aim to convey that although Al-Mutanabbi Street and its spirit was initially flattened by the attack of 2007, it was not destroyed. Slowly it was rebuilt and reused, albeit in the shadow of the event that caused rebuilding and repair to structures and hearts to be necessary. The work can be viewed either as 2D in the concertina book, or cut out, and made into the boxes that represent both the stalls and buildings that were destroyed, and the people who tragically lost their lives in the attack. The hand-drawn patterns on each are inspired by aspects taken from the street itself: shapes and details in architecture and photographs of the street both before and after the attack"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 5.

Medium: Mixed.

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.

"Libby Scarlett is a London-based artist. Using experience as inspiration, she translates details to map, and tell of, or bring attention to, often small occurrences. Her practice utilises the mediums of books, printmaking, drawing, photography, writing, installation and intervention. She is also a founding member of collectives Studio Tej and Parlour Press"--The artist's website (viewed July 16, 2015).