November 20, 2020 - December 31, 2019
MOHAMMAD SHARAF
Cemetery of Banned Books: The Anniversary
While Kuwait was once seen as a regional enclave of intellectual freedom, it now struggles to be seen as such due to the unprecedented increase in book banning. On August 2018, the government acknowledged that it had banned more than 4,300 books since 2013.
Inspired by this recent literary massacre and as a sign of opposition to the banning of writings and the persecution of their authors, the Cemetery of Banned Books was a symbolic piece of protest and public art intervention. It was conceptualized and installed by Kuwaiti designer Mohammad Sharaf on the sidelines of Kuwait’s Annual Book Fair. This powerful installation includes more than 200 headstones inscribed with the names of some of the books that were banned by the government in recent years. These books vary from children’s books to encyclopedias, novels, political and religious books written by local and international authors.
The Cemetery of Banned Books was installed on Thursday, November 22, 2018 at 9am. It remained for three hours before it was removed by authorities.
This exhibition is a partial reconstruction of the original installation.
All proceeds from this exhibition will go towards charities dedicated to education.