Remembrance 2012
Julie Shaw Lutts, USA
| Remembrance was
a challenging book to complete. I started by researching
my topic, which in this case was a tragic, heartbreaking, event.
To choose to explode a bomb in a place where people gather to find
books and to broaden their knowledge, or to just enjoy the company
of others doing the same, is simply evil. Why a person would do
this is a question I'm sure the family and friends of the people
who died there, or were injured, or were forced out of business,
continue to ponder because it seems so incomprehensible. When I became part of a small band of book artists who were inspired by Beau Beausoleil to make works which spoke to the 2007 bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, Iraq, I was honored to contribute to this quiet protest. My piece called 'Remembrance' has four small accordion books which make up the work. The first book, 'To Seek to Know' includes words both in English and Arabic which describe Al-Mutanabbi Street before the bombing. It is followed by 'A Sudden Attack', 'Pain and Grief' and 'Recovery', depicting the evolution of the environment during and after the tragedy. I struggled with how to make this work bi-lingual. Arabic is completely foreign to me and when trying to translate sentences there were so many choices it was difficult to know which was best. I found an old dictionary and as I read through, the individual words that I chose created the narrative, which is simply single words displayed in both Arabic and English. This final piece is housed in a fragile glass box, symbolizing the delicate balance of peace. As each book is opened, the words literally spill out of the accordion pages. Measures: 8" x 8” x 7" (closed). Open, each of the four books in each piece measure 5" x 25" when hung.  http://julieshawlutts.com/ |
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