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Studio Seminars
Artist books have been quintessential corporeal mediums for artists and writers alike to translate a myriad of works across time and space from Etel Adnan’s leporellos to Islam Aly’s signature Islamic and Coptic binding books.
Join us for a Studio Seminar with multidisciplinary artist and artist-book extraordinaire Arnold Barretto for a two-part, two-day artist-book making seminar where participants will be invited to understand the history of book-making, conceptualize, start, score, and finish their own artist-books inspired by their own personal archives.
Day 1: Introduction and Fundamentals
We’ll begin with an introduction to artist-books, Arnold Barretto’s practice, and conceptual reflections to open up our creative thinking. Participants will explore tactile prompts and exercises using their personal archives as inspiration, while learning the fundamentals of accordion books and layout. We’ll construct cloth-bound hard covers, play with materials, and intuitively translate ideas into forms that will become the foundation of our artist-books.
Day 2: Artist-book Making Galore!
We’ll spend today getting into the technical making of our books: assembling, scoring, and binding it together. By the end of the day, participants will have fully realized works, expanded knowledge of mediums and book-making techniques, and a stronger sense of creative flow.
This weekend holds the opportunity for participants to learn a history of making and of a medium that is important to our region, realize from start to finish your own personal artist-books, while learning new mediums of making, and conceptualizing form and composition.
To encourage the continuity of this important practice, we’re equipping each participant with a 421 Artist-Kit that will have all the tools necessary to continue making artist-books at home and realize further translations for a sustained practice. We’ll also include a how-to guide of Arnold’s most prominent and/or favorite traits in binding, scoring, or laying out his accordion books.
Accessibility & Participation
Open to ages 18+
No prior experience required.
Language: English
60 AED
To be added to the waitlist, please email hello@421.online
About the Artist
Arnold Barretto (born 1996, India) is an analog photographer, designer, printmaker, and book artist. He received his BFA in Studio Arts from SUNY Plattsburgh, NY, USA in 2019 with an emphasis on Photography and Graphic Design. Following that he moved to NYC where he spent a few months in the Aperture Foundation’s Work Scholar Program working in the Production Department that helps realize the company's Photobooks and Annual Photo Magazines. He then moved back to the UAE (where he spent most of his early life) and now works and teaches for Gulf Photo Plus.
Working primarily with analog processes, Barretto emphasizes the tactile nature of image-making and the quiet intimacy of printed matter. His work explores themes of identity, space, desire, with an emphasis on that which is personal especially when existing in a space that does not allow for this exploration. wHis approach is also rooted in the physicality of materials, inviting slower, more contemplative engagement.
He has participated in group exhibitions across the United States and the UAE. In 2023, he was selected as a fellow of the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artists Fellowship (SEAF), a prestigious 10-month program for emerging UAE-based artists, conducted in partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently in cohort 5 of the Teaching Artist Fellowship at Manarat Al Sadiyat in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
He has self-published two artist books. Glimpses (2024) is a limited edition of 75 hand-bound, riso-printed zines featuring original cyanotype portraits of men. Jesus Will Save You (2025) is a personal and palpable exploration of the self in relation to home, religion, and family. Housed in a cassette holder, this accordion book unfolds two parallel narratives running on opposite sides, each with its own distinct interplay of photography and poetic text.