Description
In the hands of artists and poets, books have taken a radically different form since the advent of the artist’s book in Paris in the early 20th century.
In this fascinating conversation, art historian, Dr Venetia Porter, curator of the Artists making books: poetry to politics exhibition, and academic and writer, Dr Atef Alshaer, discuss the exhibition’s accompanying publication, a stunning collection of outstanding and fascinating artists’ books.
Join us for an enthralling discussion as they delve into the range of artists work, from Beirut to Tunis and beyond. Highlighting the relationship between artists and writers and the influences that inform their work, from family to politics and everything in between.
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About the Curator
Venetia Porter
Venetia Porter is former Senior Curator for Islamic and Contemporary Middle East art at the British Museum. She studied Arabic and Persian and Islamic Art at the University of Oxford, and her PhD from the University of Durham, is on the history and architecture of Medieval Yemen. Her exhibitions include Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam (2012), and she was the lead curator for the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World (2018). Her publications include her mother’s autobiography Thea Porter’s scrapbook (Unicorn Press 2019) and most recently, Artists making books: poetry to politics (British Museum Press 2023).
About the Academic
Atef Alshaer
Atef Alshaer is a Reader in Arabic Studies at the University of Westminster. He grew up in Gaza, and was educated at Birzeit University in Palestine, and SOAS (University of London), where he obtained his PhD and taught for several years. He is the author of several publications in the fields of literature, language and politics, including Poetry and Politics in the Modern Arab World, Love and Poetry in the Middle East, and A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba. He has also published several poems, and translations from Arabic poetry into English, including a collection of poetry by the Palestinian Poet Najwan Darwish.
About the Chair
Alexandra Pringle
Alexandra Pringle was Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury Publishing for 20 years, her authors including Susanna Clarke, Richard Ford, Elizabeth Gilbert, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, Colum McCann, Madeline Miller, Ann Patchett, George Saunders, Kamila Shamsie, Ahdaf Souief and Patti Smith. She is a Patron of Index on Censorship, a Trustee of Reprieve and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has been awarded Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters from Anglia Ruskin and Warwick Universities.
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