Fine Art

Mutanabbi Street Starts Here – Exhibition at Florida Atlantic University

Painted Tongue Studios is participating in the Mutanabbi Street Project. The project and exhibition at Florida Atlantic University are described below. Proceeds from the project go to Doctors Without Borders. To see more broadsides in the Mutanabbi Street Project, scroll to the bottom of this posting and follow the link there.

Our broadside is called “Diameter of the Bomb.” It is an interactive, letterpress printed paper sculpture illustrating Yehuda Amichai’s poem by the same name. The poem is translated by Chana Bloch. Directly below are pictures of the broadside closed, open, and a close up of the drawing of the bombing that was printed behind the poem in transparent ink.


MUTANABBI STREET STARTS HERE
through JAFFE CENTER for BOOK ARTS
Now through July 28, 2008
at Florida Atlantic University’s Wimberly Library

On March 5, 2007, a car bomb was detonated on Mutanabbi Street, the centuries-old center of bookselling in Baghdad. Soon afterwards, an international group of poets, writers, artists, letterpress printers, booksellers, and readers gathered to create the Mutanabbi Street Coalition–in response not only to the tragedy of the 30 deaths and 100 injuries, but also to the idea of a targeted attack on a street that has always been a place for the exchange of ideas.

The coalition’s goal was to respond to the tragedy with positive creativity: by printing broadsides featuring the work of Iraqi poets and supporting Doctors Without Borders––a non-profit agency working to relieve suffering in Iraq and in other troubled areas of the world––through the sales of these broadsides.

San Francisco poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil is the coalition’s founder and organizer. This exhibition at Florida Atlantic University marks the first time these broadsides have been shown collectively outside of California. FAU Libraries has also undertaken the task of creating a digital library of the project, and one complete set of the broadsides will remain here permanently at the Jaffe Center for Book Art.

This library-wide exhibition runs through Monday, July 28, 2008. This includes the main lobby of the Wimberly Library, the Wimberly Administrative Offices (2nd floor west), and the lobby of the Jaffe Center for Book Arts (3rd floor east). The exhibition may be viewed anytime during regular library hours, which may be found at www.library.fau.edu/geninfo/hours.htm?boca or by calling 561-297-3770. A few of the broadsides are being exhibited inside the Jaffe Center; these may be viewed during regular JCBA hours: Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Find more details on Mutanabbi Street Starts Here at the “Exhibitions” link at our website:

http://www.jaffecollection.org