Other//Colours Of A Day.

Other//Colours Of A Day. A book by Sara Elgerot for 'An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street', 2013. Unpaged, illustrated throughout, 21x13cm. Signed and numbered. Edition of 3 books (+1 artist copy). -->> better photos to come.

This book was made for 'An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street' - a project initiated by Beau Beausoleil (USA) and co-curated by Sarah Bodman (UK). Links: here and here.

I've been very moved by this project and its intent, and am very happy to be part of it.


Book description:

" “I was born in Sweden of Swedish parents. Sweden has not had or been in war since 1814. It is not the same. I've lived most of my adult life in the UK. I lived in London on 7/7/2005, very near to where the bombs went off. Then life moved on. It is not the same.

I knew Baghdad only from history lessons and books. I knew its book market from “We Came To Baghdad” and a documentary which chronicled Agatha Christie's life in Mesopotamia and talked at length of Baghdad’s bookstalls and book market. 'One day', I thought, 'one day I will visit'. Then I knew Baghdad from a war we marched against, terror that doesn't stop. Years, a decade, later it hasn't stopped. It is not the same.

I wanted to make a book for transformation, with one wish: May all beings know and live in peace.”

The book was inspired by transformation and the phrase “The River Turned Black with Ink”. It was made by taking newspaper photographs of the destruction on and of Al-Mutanabbi Street treating them with water, painting with the water on the paper until all the colours had emerged and blended together. Cut up and assembled into books they have turned into 'other'."


Materials & Technique:
Newspaper photographs printed on paper, treated with and painted on with water. Scanned in and printed out unaltered. Gathered, folded, cut and assembled. Cover: ancient Baghdad map printed on paper and treated with water. Hand-bound with white and coloured thread.


Edition of three copies, which is donated to the project (+one artist copy). All copies are made up of different parts of the original sheets, which means each copy is different. Each copy is also bound with different coloured (exposed) threads.

One copy of 'Other//Colours Of A Day' will be donated to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad, whereas the other two copies will be part of touring exhibitions for the next few years in conjunction with the 'Al-Mutanabbi Street Broadside Project'.