Al Mutanabbi Street Starts Here collection, 2007-2019
Collection context
- Creator:
- Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition
- Extent:
- 3 Linear Feet 7 boxes of various sizes
- Language:
- English .
- Scope and content:
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Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here is an arts initiative and an archival collection conceived as a response to violence and directed at creating shared cultural spaces. The project and the collection were initiated by Beau Beausoleil in 2007 following the March 5 car bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street (the street of the booksellers) in Baghdad, Iraq. Beausoleil writes, "We are not a project of pity or healing; we are a project of Witness, Memory, and Solidarity," and "Free speech and the free exchange of ideas are at the core of what al-Mutanabbi Street represents to us. We do not attempt to speak for the Iraqi people, they have their own voice. Rather, we want them to know that we see them and hear them in their own struggle for a more just society, and that we will not let anyone in the West forget them." As of 2023, the archive holds approximately 260 artists' books, 200 prints, 100 letterpress broadsides, 57 photographs, and a collection of bookmarks, made by over 600 poets, writers, and artists from twenty countries. The artists' books are cataloged individually in CLIO, and are described as a group in the record https://clio.columbia.edu/archives/15498023. The project also produced an anthology, Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here: Poets and Writers Respond to the March 5th, 2007, Bombing of Baghdad's "Street of the Booksellers," published by PM Press in 2012. Edited by Beau Beausoleil and Deema K. Shehabi, the anthology includes writing by Iraqis and an international group of poets and writers. Copies are cataloged in CLIO.
- Biographical / historical:
-
In 2007, Beau Beausoleil (1941-), poet and bookseller, founded the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition as a response to the bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street, the center of bookselling in Baghdad, Iraq. Each participating book artist was asked to complete three books over the course of a year that reflected both the strength and fragility of books, but also showed the endurance of the ideas within them. Coalition members include poets, writers, and artists from many countries, and projects have included broadsides, artists' books, prints, bookmarks, music, photography, and more. The mission of the coalition focuses on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas and the preservation of shared cultural spaces.
Al Mutannabbi Street Starts Here was exhibited extensively in the U.S. and the U.K. as well as in Baghdad, the American University in Cairo, in Venice, Italy, The Netherlands, and most recently in Sweden. An accompanying anthology of poetry and prose, Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, was published by PM Press. An exhibit of work from the related project Shadow and Light was exhibited at the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (2019).
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
This collection is located onsite.
This collection has no restrictions.
- Location of this collection:
- Before you visit:
- Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
- Contact:
- rbml@library.columbia.edu