[William Blake
Subtitle: altered book]
By: by Sarah Rhys
Contributors: Bronowski, Jacob, 1908-1974; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)
Edition: One-of-a-kind.
Publisher: [Sarah Rhys]
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Bristol, UK]
Language: eng
Subjects: Artists' books; Violence; Pictorial works; Booksellers and bookselling; Bombings; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Protest movements; Books and reading in art; Intellectual life; Social conditions; Censorship; In art; War and civilization; Vehicle bombs; Terrorism in art; Memory in art; Place (Philosophy) in art; Liminality; Fire; Symbolic aspects; Psychological aspects; Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition; Poems (Blake, William)
Description: "The burnt books are a homage to the books burnt and damaged by the bombings in al-Mutanabbi street. I imagine myself there finding half-burned books, and after the horror, reading extraordinary fragments of texts. My acts of book burning are inverted demonstrations against censorship and cultural cleansing"--The Centre for Fine Print Research book arts website.

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.
Notes: Cover title.

An altered book, edited and with an introduction by J. Bronowski, of William Blake : a selection of poems and letters (Harmondsworth [England] ; Baltimore, Md. : Penguin Books, 1958).

Medium: Penguin book and fire.

"Sarah is an artist who lives and works in Monmouthshire, South Wales. She is an interdisciplinary artist working in various media such as print, drawing and painting, artist books, photography and moving images. Originally, Sarah specialised in architectural stained glass at the art school, which is now Swansea Metropolitan University. She completed her MFA at Bath Spa University in 2004, and in 2013 gained a post-graduate diploma in multi-disciplinary print at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Her main areas of exploration are memory, place and the liminal"--The artist's homepage.

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.