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Perpetual War

Bookended by the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the current war in Ukraine, the 21st century so far has been plagued by outbreaks of conflict around the world. In the works featured here, artists embody in book form the stories of individuals and families caught up in the sweep of wars, and address the hypocrisies behind violent conflict. 

In War, 1940- In War, 1940-

Karen Baldner and Drew Campion
In War, 1940-
Bloomington, Indiana ; San Francisco, California: Karen Baldner, Spring 2017

The artists worked with veterans of six wars to transform their uniforms into handmade paper, bound together into this book. “A uniform worn through military service carries with it stories and experiences that are in the woven threads. Creating paper and artwork from these fibers carries these same qualities… When… connections are discovered and shared it can open a deeper understanding between people and expand our collective beliefs about military service and war.” (Quotation from the artists’ website.)

Purchased using funds from the T. Henry and Penelope Clarke Library Fund in honor of Margaret Bland Clarke.

UNC Library Catalog: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb9127603

Stop War = Net Voyne!

Ioulia Akhmadeeva
Stop War = Net Voyne!
Morelia, México: Ioulia Akmadeeva, 2022

Stop War = Net Voyne! is Akhmadeeva’s response to the invasion of Ukraine, as a Russian-born artist living in Mexico. With these haunting, beautiful prints on handmade amate paper she explores how the present war is interconnected with her family’s history, tracing a family heirloom back to her Ukrainian grandmother and Russian grandfather, who met at the end of the Second World War.

Purchased using funds from the Howard Holsenbeck Library Fund.

UNC Library Catalog: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb11157514

Emily Martin
Mutually Exclusive
New York, N.Y.: Naughty Dog Press, c2002

Mutually Exclusive is partly a response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, but also to “the cacophony of news reports, emotions and opinions (expert and otherwise) that follows in the wake of any major news event.” Martin uses the ‘magic-wallet’ structure to embody the dualistic thinking that underlies conflict, and the saturation of letterpress-printed text in the background gives voice to the cacophony she describes. (Quotation from the artist’s statement in the book.) 

UNC Library Catalog: https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb4479712