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Podcast: New Books in Art
Episode: Sandow Birk, âAmerican Qurâanâ (Liveright, 2015)
Description: Could the Qurâanâunderstood, according to Muslims, as the verbatim word of God in Arabicâacquire a nationality? Specifically, could it be American? And written in English? Contemporary visual artist Sandow Birkâs American Qurâan (Liveright, 2015) raises these questions and many more. The groundbreaking and subversive project draws on multiple English translations, which Birk synthesizes to produce his own hand-written American graffiti-style translation. On top of that, every single page of the over-sized coffee table book contains meticulous illustrations of everyday American life, ranging from celebration to tragedy. As a commentary on both the Qurâan as well as Amer...