"Thanks to Margaret Bellafiore for inspiration with the visual conception, and to Joe Wexler for help with writing large cuneiform numbers."

Medium: Japanese (Yuzen) paper, twine, thread, gold pen, Iraq map, cuneiform numbers, adhesive letters, portfolio holder and pages.

On March 5th, 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. Al-Mutanabbi Street is located in a mixed Shia-Sunni area. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, holds bookstores and outdoor bookstalls, cafes, stationery shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. It has been the longstanding heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community for centuries. In response to the attack, a San Francisco poet and bookseller, Beau Beausoleil, rallied a community of international artists and writers to produce a collection of letterpress-printed broadsides (poster-like works on paper), artists' books (unique works of art in book form), and an anthology of writing, all focused on expressing solidarity with Iraqi booksellers, writers and readers. The coalition of contributing artists calls itself Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition.

Gift; Beau Beausoleil; 2019-2020.

"Anna Wexler is an interdisciplinary artist and writer who works with text, installation and ritually configured performance to distill specific legacies of structural violence and visionary resistance. Her works have been commissioned for exhibits and events exploring the influence of culturally diverse ritual practices, especially those of the Afro-Caribbean, on contemporary art"--The University of Southern Maine's website (viewed July 31, 2015).