Title: Offering
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.

Angie Butler is an artist who works predominantly within book arts and letterpress. Awarded two prizes for her recent artists' books: the Sheffield Book Arts Prize (Student Prize) 2009, and the Agassi Book Arts Prize, UWE, 2011. Angie holds two master's degrees: Visual Culture: Fine Art and Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking, specialising in artists books. She has enjoyed working at various Institutions across the UK, Europe, US, and S.E. Asia, as both Visiting Artist and Lecturer for the past ten years. Her work is held in UK, and International Private and Public Collections - she works under the name Pet Galerie Press. This is her first collaborative book produced with Natalie McGrorty - she thinks things went rather well, and would like to do another. Natalie McGrorty is a British artist whose practice spans a variety of disciplines and includes making artists' books. Her work typically involves intricate mark making and processes such as paper cutting, printmaking and stitch. 'Offering' was conceived whilst Natalie was living in New York and Angie in England, so they decided on a digital format for their collaboration. Natalie's work is held in collections both in the UK and the USA.
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, Artists' books, Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
Places: Iraq, Baghdad, England, Brighton
People: Angie Butler, Natalie McGrorty
Time periods: 21st century