While you were on Spring Break last year, a car bomb blew up on Al Mutanabbi Street.
You didn’t hear about it because that’s in Baghdad – and we pretty much expect things to explode in Iraq. Plus, you were partying.
One group of book lovers took it personally, however, and they want us to know about it.
They’re upset because the bombing was “a targeted attack on a place where ideas have always been exchanged,” according to the group. The street was like a used bookstore turned into a yard sale. Named after a 10th century Arab poet, it was historically known for outdoor bookshops and cafés.
Call it art vs. terrorism. On display now in the Boca campus library are 43 broadsides – handmade, poster-like works which detail in words and images how this group of artists, writers and printmakers feel about the bombing.
“Books and bones / blown to bits” were “triggered by insanity / in the name of humanity” according to Tony Kranz’s “Market Forces Runon” broadside. The image next to his poem is an American flag painted over the page of a book, with what looks like spattered blood – but not all are so graphic.
Organizers John Cutrone and Seth Thompson, who work on FAU’s special collections in the Jaffe Center, hope the exhibit itself doesn’t bomb. It’ll be up until July 28.
“Each broadside is truly a work of art. All are printed letterpress, usually from hand-set metal or wood type. Some feature original relief prints, some are printed on handmade paper [and] all are made with the passion of artists who have something to say,” Cutrone says.
The still-growing collection commemorates the deaths of 30 people and the injuries of a hundred others. All but a handful of the works were made in America, although there are a few from other countries, including Australia and Sweden.
Many of the works feature translations of Arabic poetry alongside cultural or symbolic images, like the image in Cutrone and Thompson’s “Occident to Orient,” which is a bird among poppies.
“[The bird] was a very personal decision, as it seemed to us that almost every radio dispatch from Baghdad we heard had birdsong in the background,” Cutrone says.
By the end of July, there will be at least half a dozen more broadsides in the project begun by the Mutanabbi Street Coalition. Seven students are participating in a workshop with Cutrone that began earlier this month. They’re learning the art technique and putting it to use, adding their voices to the collection that will be permanently housed at FAU’s Boca campus.
Check It Out
You can see can the artwork in the S.E. Wimberly Library on the Boca campus, and it’s broken into three sections. One is in the main lobby, another is in the offices at the west end of the second floor, and the third is located at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts on the third floor.
If that’s too much work, view the collection online
Totally into it? On July 17, there’s going to be an intimate concert featuring traditional Arabic music and poetry readings from the Mutanabbi artworks. Fewer than 15 seats are still available, and the minimum donation for a ticket is $20. If you donate $50 or more, you receive a handmade, limited edition copy of “Occident to Orient.”
All donations go toward Doctors Without Borders, a charity that works to relieve suffering in Iraq.
To get a ticket, contact Jaffe Center programs coordinator John Cutrone at (561) 297-0455 or [email protected].
