Al Mutanabbi street lament
Subtitle: in memory of the 30 dead & 100 wounded, March 5, 2007, Baghdad, Iraq
By: Ellen Wallenstein
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: E. Wallenstein
Published: 2011
Place of publication: [New York]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 20
Subjects: Artists' books; Specimens; Terrorism in art; Terrorism; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Violence; Pictorial works; Bombings; Censorship; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Visual literature; War in art; Grief in art; Iraqi Art
Notes: Cover title.

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.

"A bomb in a bookstore, an explosion, the end of lives, destruction of past present and future. My response to a request to make art about war was to look at images of war, destruction, and lament through art history. I used images of Iraqi art when possible - the animal figure is an incense burner; the figure of the woman is 12th century sculpture. The original images are xeroxed self-portraits collaged with reproductions of images by known and unknown artists, architects, carvers and weavers.”--Artist's statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website (viewed May 28, 2021).

Offset-printed zine.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.