Parallel to the International Book Fair .. A graveyard for books in Kuwait

Mahmoud Kafrawi - Kuwait

As the 44th edition of the Kuwait International Book Fair kicks off, Kuwaiti artist Mohammed Sharaf organized the "Book Cemetery", which he began last year to express his position towards banning some books during the exhibition.

The book fair opened on November 20 and runs until the end of the month, while the artist Sharaf holds a symbolic exhibition in the form of a cemetery marked by books prohibited from selling at the exhibition.

Sharaf, a young graphic and design specialist, left Kuwait between 2013 and 2018 to obtain a Master of Design from the United States. Months before his return, he drew attention to the publication of a list on the social networking site "Twitter" for books that were banned during those years.

Sharaf tells Al Jazeera Net that the breadth of the list, which included 4,300 books in five years, made him think about expressing his opinion on this matter with an artistic design put it online.

After returning to settle in Kuwait in the summer of 2018, he had the idea of ​​provoking the ban on books again, but wanted to do this differently and shockingly to draw attention. Hence the idea of ​​the cemetery and evidence that prevention is synonymous with killing ideas, which necessitated the existence of a symbolic cemetery.

Beginning of implementation
In one of the carpentry workshops, the tombstones, a piece of wood the size of the book, were painted white to bring them closer to the shape of the book.

At 7:30 am, just three days before last year's show ended, Sharaf chose a site in the middle of the car parks and exhibition halls and put 200 witnesses representing some of the banned books during the past years, before leaving the site and leaving for his home at nine in the morning, to be published online Some photos taken by the cemetery.

Within minutes, the cultural scene in Kuwait was preoccupied with the idea and its symbolism, which prompted many media to address it. Although the cemetery was removed only three hours after it was placed, the message it generated exceeded all expectations, as it took sympathy out of the circle of intellectuals or those interested in books to talk about the issue to the general public.

The management of the exhibition grounds confiscated the evidence, and attempts to recover it failed again, but it remained alive in the mind of its owner, who revived it again this year based on the idea of ​​"annual" in the Arab culture to commemorate the dead.

In order to avoid the ban, a showroom at the Contemporary Art stand near Kuwait's capital was chosen to set up the cemetery by displaying 45 witnesses of banned books until 2018, with the opportunity to sell one witness for fifty Kuwaiti dinars (about $ 150). To one of the charities involved in education. Eight tombstones have already been sold in the first two days.

Opinion does not need a permit
Sharaf explains that he did not take the step of requesting a permit from the authority authorized to erect the cemetery at the site last year, because the expression of opinion does not require a permit.

Since its establishment, the exhibition has witnessed a high turnout from some of the interested people, some of whom confirmed their sympathy for the idea and their rejection of the ban.

Observers confirm the decline in the severity of the banning during the current session, as expressed by the author of the Lebanese book House Mai Zein by referring to allowing the issuance of the House banned during the past year.

This intersects with the assistant undersecretary of the press, publications and publishing sector at the Ministry of Information, Mohammed al-Awash, that the ministry can not stand against the freedom of opinion, publishing or writing, and that it also respects all views as guaranteed by the Constitution and laws, and wishes to receive help from those interested to help them implement Laws regulating media affairs.

Al-Awash said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that "the ministry did not prevent any book except in violation of the prohibitions contained in the law of publications and publishing, most notably exposure to the divine or the Holy Prophet and his family, or brotherly and friendly countries or national unity," saying that "caveats exist in all countries The world, although its nature varies from country to country. "

He pointed out that the number of modern books that were presented to the Ministry's control department during the current session of the book fair reached 3227 books, of which only 133 were banned.