March 5th, 2007 Al-Mutanabbi Street

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. "Alex Appella (born in Oregon, USA) began bookbinding on a boat in Alaska before taking her creations to the streets and plazas of Latin America. What began as a temporary solution within a nomadic lifestyle has turned into a way of life. Alex now writes and binds from her home in Córdoba, Argentina. Alex's artists' books can be found in The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, in special collections at libraries and universities all over the US, and in private collections from Mexico to Argentina, Denmark to Russia, and beyond"--Artist's statement from the Centre for Fine Print Research website (viewed April 20, 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,  Artists' books,  Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition

People: Alex Appella

Places: Iraq,  Baghdad,  Argentina,  Córdoba,  California,  San Francisco

Times: 21st century