Re-Start

Maureen Cummins in collaboration with Iraqi artist Yaroub Al-Obaidi

Re-Start

High Falls, NY

Maureen Cummins

2021, no. 4 of an edition of 10, signed by the artist

All text was hand-typed onto transparent vellum sheets bound into vintage aluminum binders.

Maureen Cummins is an American artist who has created many limited-edition artists’ books and founded Inanna Press. In this work she collaborated with fellow artist Yaroub Al-Obaidi to describe his experience of being resettled in multiple countries, comparing the experience to a broken computer that needs repeated restarting. Cummins used the recorded text by rearranging and repeating sections again and again replicating the sense of frustration reflecting Al-Obaidi’s experiences. The two artists met through the Friends, Peace and Sanctuary project hosted by Swarthmore College.