More lines exploring space II
By: Sumi Perera
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [Sumi Perera]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Redhill, Surrey, 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; Bookmarks; Writing; History; Literacy; Social aspects; Artists' books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Other titles: More lines exploring space two
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.

"'More lines exploring space II, ' is a tribute and affirmation to the inability to silence or destroy the power of the written word. Paying homage to both Arabic and Western reading practices, the book was designed be read from either right to left or left to right or in both directions sequentially in a boustrophedon fashion. Lines reduce in number if read in one direction, to reflect upon the destruction from the aftermath of the bombing. The build-up of lines, when read in the opposite direction, reflected the collaborative efforts of bibliophiles, poets and artists throughout the world congregating and producing work to reflect on this atrocity and express a united voice to celebrate the power of books and words. This series of bookmarks are designed to allow the reader to select the order they wish to read a book by vertically splicing them and cutting 'v' shaped notches at different positions of the height of each bookmark, placing them throughout the pages, and playing with the sequence of reading patterns, i.e., the highest bookmarked page to be read first, the lowest-last, or vice versa"--Statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 10.

Techniques/Materials: Open bite acid etching, aquatint, embossing on Black Somerset paper 300g.

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 am a multidisciplinary artist combining printmaking, stitch, laser cutting, engraving and painting to form mixed media assemblages. My work is an amalgam of influences from my background as a doctor, scientist and artist"--Artist's statement from Bath Contemporary website (viewed July 8, 2015).

Perera is a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and a member of the Society of Designers Craftsman, the Society of Graphic Fine Arts and 62 Group. Her international award-winning work is now held in several public collections including Tate Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Yale Centre for British Art USA. She has recently had a book short-listed, to be included in the Smithsonian Museum collection, Washinton D.C.