Kitaab
Richard Turnbull, USA
| Kitaab;
Richard Turnbull, New York, NY, USA, December 2012 The theme I chose for my response to the 2007 bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad is the Arabic word for book, kitaab, based on the three-syllable root k-t-b, from which many words having to do with books, writing, booksellers, etc. can be generated. I remembered my own struggles with Arabic in various language programs and drew on kitaab, the first Arabic word I ever learned (or remembered), which was used by one of my professors to illustrate every almost new grammatical rule or structure he wanted to teach us. For this project I used material from my first Arabic textbook and my own handwritten notes from class. My relationship to Arabic has always been rather ephemeral and the difficulty I have in reading even the simplest phrases suggested a kind of self-generated willful illegibility, which I then made manifest in the book by printing in light inks on painted paper, overlaying motifs on top of one another and imposing a handwritten correction over one of the silkscreened texts. Those familiar with Islamic art may notice that the format of the book (wider than it is tall) echoes early manuscripts of the Qur'an, especially those produced in southern Iraq in the early centuries of Islam. As I note in the premise of my book, I have no real experiences to compare with the bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street, and my response is limited to thinking about my personal engagement with a language not my own and the capacity of all languages to endure in the face of premeditated violence. Dimensions: 11 x 5”; Medium: screenprint and letterpress over hand-painted Rives BFK paper Richard Turnbull is an art historian, printmaker and book artist who divides his time between New York and western Massachusetts. He teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and various other venues. His artists' books, prints and experimental photographs are in various private collections. Rhturnbull1126@gmail.com www.furiousdaypress.com |