Iraqi Peace Song 2011
Laurie Alpert, USA

     

While visiting the Golan Heights in 2007, I photographed a sculpture of a kneeling soldier pointing a gun. This image had become a haunting motif in my work and created a political edge to the otherwise unbiased nature of the work. I had no idea that this motif would be returning to my work as part of “Iraqi Peace Song”. When I began the Al-Mutanabbi Street artist's book project, my intent was to make traditionally bound books but, as the process evolved, it became clearer to me that the scroll form made sense in this particular context. The Arabic text is from the poetry of Al-Mutanabbi. I have included my mother's music (she was a professional violinist) as a symbol of beauty and hope amidst the ongoing violence and tension in that part of the world. While doing research, I discovered a piece of music called “Iraqi Peace Song” by Lori Tennenhouse and Knut Reiersrud. This is a lullaby featuring cello and choir and is sung in both English and Arabic. It was apparent to me that this needed to be a part of the scrolls as well. I hope that at some point in the near future, I will no longer feel compelled to include the kneeling soldier from the Golan Heights in my work. Laurie Alpert is a Printmaker and Book Artist from Brookline, Massachusetts. She has her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her MFA in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art. She is a Professor in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Alpert's professional affiliations include membership at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston's South End and EES Arts, a professional printmaking cooperative in Hyde Park. She is also a member of Boston Printmakers, the Monotype Guild of New England and the New York Center for Book Arts.