Title: Stillness in time
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.

"Three little books made from wood, paper and love. Using basic tools and an imperfect human being I wanted to create something that reflected the strength of the human spirit and the craft of book making (however basic) and that it cannot and will not be destroyed. The photographs celebrate children, childhood, family and memory. Using the old photographic processes, I wanted to capture the stillness that can be found in what is often a chaotic and violent world. It is a celebration of children and the hope they give us"--Artist's statement from the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

"My passion for photography started in earnest with the birth of my son. I had always enjoyed the photograph as an object, but with his arrival, came the need to record our lives. After the birth of my daughter, I found that I was photographing as a way of exploring my own childhood memories, as well as using it to document our lives. Photography was now becoming a means of expressing myself artistically. In my photography I have always been drawn to the theme of childhood, whether it has been recreating my own personal memories, making images of my children and recording their childhood or working with children using ancient photographic processes. My work is ultimately about emotion. It is about capturing a moment or a memory. I have always been interested in the idea of 'memory' - I think this came through my studies of reading diaries and journals for my MA in Holocaust Studies. Although my work is very personal, the intention is that it is open enough for others to bring their own story to it. I work with a variety of photographic mediums, from medium and large format cameras using film, to working with the Victorian Wet Plate Collodion Process. I love to work in a slow and considered way and one in which I collaborate with each child that sits before me"--The artist's website (viewed July 8, 2015).
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, Photography of children, Memory in art, Emotions in art, Artists' books, Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Places: Iraq, Baghdad, England, Northumberland
People: Deborah Parkin
Time periods: 21st century