Pages Reign
Laura Russell, USA
| Pages Reign;
Laura Russell, Portland, Oregon, USA, 2013 The bombing of the booksellers on al-Mutanabbi Street in Iraq really touched my soul. As a book seller and book maker I had a hard time reconciling such an atrocious event with my own complacency about our too-easy-to-take-for-granted freedoms of commerce, thoughts and ideas. I thought about the words “pages reign” as a symbol for that freedom and the importance of books. How can it be that bombs can so easily turn those words to “pages rain.” The images in my mind of book pages raining down after the bombs blare make me hope and pray that some day the people of Iraq will see “pages rise” again. The text featured in this book is a poem I wrote that reads: When pages reign, freedom reigns. When pages reign, thought reigns. When pages reign, ideas reign. When pages reign, words spread, freedoms rise. When pages rain bombs blare, children fear. When pages rain, freedom dies, words collide. When pages rise again, hearts rise, freedoms rise. When pages rise again, thoughts rise, words rise. Pages reign. Pages rise. Pages reign. Pages rise. Variable Edition of Four. Dimensions: 2.75” w x 3” h x 1.5” d; 24 pages, two-sided accordion extends out to 54 inches Medium: Acrylic paint and collage using an Arabic calligraphy book as background imagery. Laura Russell is a photographer and book artist who creates hand-bound, limited-edition artist books of many forms. She has participated in national and international book arts and fine art exhibitions. Her books are collected by individual collectors and are in major collections at museums, libraries, universities and corporations. Laura is also the owner of 23 Sandy Gallery, a fine art gallery in Portland, Oregon. simplybooksltd@gmail.com www.laurarussell.com |