Pages reign

"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"--Artist's statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

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.