Altered book for Al-Mutanabbi
By: Amanda Williams
Contributors: Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: [Amanda Williams]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Western Australia]
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; Altered books; Artists' books; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
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.

"My 'Altered book for Al-Mutanabbi' is about the emptiness of destruction, and the inner void of depression. It is about not judging a book by its cover. Art-making is personal. It is as much about the state of mind of the artist as the physical thing being made. I began this project seeing the potential for a fresh beginning, like flowers blooming after a drought. Then, auto-immune, my body began to attack itself. I looked the same on the outside, but my mind became a dark place. I stopped, thought again and started over"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Medium: Book, bookboard, cloth, acrylic paint.

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.

"Although my early years were spent in mathematics, computing, graphics and the print industry, a life-changing experience at age 40 prompted me to follow my heart, and I took courses at the art schools at TAFE and Curtin University. While still influenced by my pre-art school experiences, my art work is primarily a personal reflection on modern landscape, while raising larger philosophical questions. My work has been included in local, national and international exhibitions, and I have also participated in many collaborative projects"--Artist's statement from the artist's website (viewed July 31, 2015).