Thou Art: The Beauty of Identity (2017) 

A Studio Pause community poetry book, Thou Art: The Beauty of Identity celebrates National Poetry Month 2017. In a collaboration with Afghan artist Sughra Hussainy, whose work is on view at the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art in Washington D.C., I was inspired to bring together 25 writers from the Studio community, to respond to Sughra’s story, and her experiences in the United States, and write poems of identity. In response to their poems, Sughra added her painting and illumination to each poem.

As Sughra says, “Art must bring change,” and so I designed and printed the books in my Arlington Studio, Studio Pause where I work, teach, and invite the community to make time to explore creativity and celebrate community.

The book design brought together Islamic book design elements like the protected fore-edge, and mixed it with Japanese stab binding, which Sughra had never seen before and really enjoyed. The cover paper is from Mumbai.

Studio PAUSE community meets artist Sughra Hussainy.
Carson with copies of her books, where you pay for one and get two—one to keep and one to give—because everybody needs to read these poems.
Each poet got to make their own copy of the book with golden or purple covers
Each poet, like Kori, also got to keep the framed original artwork by Sughra made for their poem
LouLou and Kara take their artworks home
Sush and Sughra at the book launch, Studio PAUSE, April 2017
Ahmad reads his poem at the book launch
The audience
Show and reading at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, 2017
The exhibit
The community bookmaking
Most of the poets, Sughra, and Sushmita with the exhibit
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Little Lantern and The Dark & Moonless Night, 2014