Published by Dongola Limited Editions 2020
Limited Edition of 250
230 x 195 mm
Artistic Direction: Abed AlKadiri
Editor: Elizabeth Key Fowden
Authors: Elizabeth Key Fowden, Anneka Lenssen, Claudia Tobin
Copy editor: Bram Opstelten
Design: Reza Abedini and Lama Barakat
Production: Riad Youssef
Photography: Amanda Ribas Tugwell
Cover: Materica Clay 250 gsm
Paper: Shiro Ivory 90 gsm
Freelife Vellum 140 gsm
Printed and bound in Beirut, Lebanon
Price | $50
Jerusalem in Exile: Artist’s Books by Kamal Boullata
The late Kamal Boullata was a Palestinian artist best known for his geometric silk screen prints and compositions based on angular Kufi script. His experimentations with artist’s books that began in the 1990s explored the design of graphic space that could reflect the formal elements of poetry. This allowed Boullata to craft artist’s books that became tangible representations of the authors’ poetic voice. The development of a visual system unique to the rhythm of the poetry allowed him to capture the dynamism of text in a way that encouraged the distinction between form and content to vanish. In this sense, readers do not hold a book of poetry, but an artistic embodiment of the words themselves.
Dongola’s collaboration with Boullata on a new artist’s book had been planned for 2019, but his sudden passing transformed the project into a tribute to his work. Designed in honor of his legacy, this book on artist’s books entitled Jerusalem in Exile was launched at Cambridge University in conjunction with a symposium and exhibition of the same name. The edition of 250 brings together critical essays by Elizabeth Key Fowden, Anneka Lenssen, and Claudia Tobin in conversation with a select number of books painted and bound by Boullata. Each catalogue is handcrafted, sprayed, bound and finely wrapped in Japanese calligraphy rice paper in homage to the work and sensibility of the artist.
Jerusalem in Exile: Artist’s Books by Kamal Boullata, 2019
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