What's been lost ... what remains
By: Annie Silverman
Contributors: Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos; Abrazos Press; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Artists' Books Collection (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library); Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Publisher: Abrazos Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Sommerville, MA
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; 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.

"A selective chronology through recorded time concerning the destruction of books by natural and unnatural means. The gathering of ideas and images for What's been lost ... what remains ... began with research. In 1995, I attended a fascinating exhibition of Islamic Books, and Calligraphy, Pages of Perfection, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, that was from the Russian Academy of Science in St. Petersburg. I initially examined the catalogue for possible images of books with al-Mutanabbi's poems, but there were none. What I discovered instead, were images from The book of sciences (14th century) of 4 small brightly coloured vessels painted in flat gouache, that look like delicate perfume vials, but were instead containers for Greek fire, 'flammable mixtures, ' and early prototypes. of modern hand grenades. This vessel shape became the book's container. The ideas of both preserving knowledge and imagery through time in books and the destruction of books through time seemed important elements to pursue and combine in this project. Also included in this catalogue were wondrous images from Dioscorides's (1st century) De materia medica, and The wonders of creation and The oddities of existence (1203-1282), which were adapted for the inside covers of the books. The chronology of books destroyed by natural and unnatural causes was adapted from an appendix in Polastron's 2007: Books on fire : the tumultuous story of the world's great libraries (Thames & Hudson 2007)"--The Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.
Notes: Printed in an edition of 4 variable copies.

Medium/materials: Archival mat board, acrylic paint, Japanese paper and rag paper, texts and imagery printed by means of polyester plate lithography, sewn with waxed linen.

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.

"Annie Silverman is a relief printmaker and book artist, who for over 20 years, has been creating experimental work with print installations, dimensional objects and books. In 2008, she formed Abrazos Press with Sandra Butler and Nina Wishnok at Miller St. in Somerville, MA. Abrazos Press is a small teaching and professional studio where workshops are routinely given in: Mixed media printmaking, improvisational woodcut, and artists' books. Annie teaches artists books and relief printmaking as a part-time instructor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently as part of the Al-Mutanabbi St. Starts Here Project in 2013, in Manchester, England, and in ALL THINGS GRAPHIC in Utrecht, Netherlands in 2012, along with her Dutch partner in art hijinks, Wilma Vissers (who she met while in residency at CLO' in County Donegal, Ireland, in 2010). In 2012 and 2013, her Vanishing Pollinator installation was exhibited at The Boston Public Library, and at the Cantor Gallery at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, as part of the Re-Think INK exhibition from Mixit Studios in Somerville, MA"--The artist's website (viewed July 21, 2015).

Primarily in Engish; Arabic on last page only.