برزخ / gränsland
برزخ / gränsland (2018)
Silk and paper flag with printed and embroidered poetry and experimental translation
45 cm x 125 cm, including threads
In collaboration with Nadah El Shazly, Moa Edlund and Sam Carlshamre
برزخ / gränsland is an experimental translation of Nadah El Shazly’s song “Barzakh”, printed and embroidered on a silk and paper flag. The flag is installed with inflow of light; to generate transparency and layerings of the front and the back regardless of which side you are viewing it from, as well as in draught which makes the flag swirl.
The experimental translation is an attempt to reduce language from it’s meaning and near it solely as sounds or forms. The act of imitating the soundscape of Arabic when being illiterate in the Arabic alphabet, and ‘translating’ this soundscape into the Swedish alphabet, articulates a poem in limbo. This sonic language is further interpreted by the artist, from a structural perspective, with the intent to generate legibility from the illegible; which she then elongates into a Swedish translation. The Swedish version of the poem is furthermore translated into English, and eventually returns into a new version of itself in its original language; Arabic.
The six versions of the poem is printed and embroidered on the silk and paper flag in order to visualize the translation process, as well as to playfully hinder any coherent reading directions. Since the flag also swirls in the flow of air, the viewer is interrupted when attempting to read, and forced to move around it, switch directions or touch it in an attempt to ‘hold’ their reading.
برزخ / gränsland is part of Hanna Wildow's artistic research project gränsen / el houdoud.
Silk and paper flag with printed and embroidered poetry and experimental translation
45 cm x 125 cm, including threads
In collaboration with Nadah El Shazly, Moa Edlund and Sam Carlshamre
برزخ / gränsland is an experimental translation of Nadah El Shazly’s song “Barzakh”, printed and embroidered on a silk and paper flag. The flag is installed with inflow of light; to generate transparency and layerings of the front and the back regardless of which side you are viewing it from, as well as in draught which makes the flag swirl.
The experimental translation is an attempt to reduce language from it’s meaning and near it solely as sounds or forms. The act of imitating the soundscape of Arabic when being illiterate in the Arabic alphabet, and ‘translating’ this soundscape into the Swedish alphabet, articulates a poem in limbo. This sonic language is further interpreted by the artist, from a structural perspective, with the intent to generate legibility from the illegible; which she then elongates into a Swedish translation. The Swedish version of the poem is furthermore translated into English, and eventually returns into a new version of itself in its original language; Arabic.
The six versions of the poem is printed and embroidered on the silk and paper flag in order to visualize the translation process, as well as to playfully hinder any coherent reading directions. Since the flag also swirls in the flow of air, the viewer is interrupted when attempting to read, and forced to move around it, switch directions or touch it in an attempt to ‘hold’ their reading.
برزخ / gränsland is part of Hanna Wildow's artistic research project gränsen / el houdoud.
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