PART OF KEEPING UP MOMENTUM SESSIONS ORGANISED BY PHOTOGRAPHY STUDENT HELEN ROSEMIER
Tutor-led facilitation: Dr. Bryan Eccleshall
Date/time
Two 2.5 hour sessions on 9 and 30 October 2021
9 October session
I could not attend. Bryan shared a document around a ‘translation game’ of which he was part and that gave me a clearer understanding of the plan ahead. I loved the Derrida quote somewhere in that document: “ the great task of the translator – his madness, his agony, the aporias he confronts – proceeds always from some initial strangeness, from the gap already opened in the idiom of the original text”. I already felt this idea of feeling lost within these translations, as I can only read and speak Afrikaans and English, the rest are little greetings in local African and other European languages, nothing to take with me anywhere when I leave my own space for a different unknown space.
Collaboration groups were assigned and the groups worked on translated documents with the aim to create a new document which was then shared with a new group. These happened in break-out rooms. Already I get the feeling of disruption of interpretation, words and cross-contamination. My group was named after the German artist Kurt Schwitters. All groups were given a text document, written in 7 different languages and had to pick a language none in the group understood and then attempt a translation, which could be a version of the text, a list of words and hand in their work back in the bigger group, where it was then redistributed to another group. The new text work was then to be used to create a new work collaboratively.
Process after first meeting
All the groups now had a sheet with words/images/ clues as to developing this into a new visual piece. What follows is my translation of this process, as I joined the group for the first time, Zoom meet, at the last and preparatory meeting before the last session with the rest of the participants. I had the opportunity to read all the conversations and ideas on the G drive and email conversations and view the collaborative effort. During that last (my first) meeting it was decided that my part of the joint effort should be to give a short statement on the process of making. This became weird as I could only work with the given text and images and my short interaction. Our group had photography, writing, and painting/drawing represented as study fields.
I shifted towards my own language, translated words and images, and then did a voice recording that was bi-lingual, namely in Afrikaans and English. The idea was to keep on collapsing language into itself – we enjoyed the confusion caused.
Words and images that stood out for me: a sea of syllables, voices in different languages reading a poem, repetition, openness to interpretation. I found it resonates with ideas of Surrealism, in the way that contrasting or opposing elements from the collective unconscious were used to form this final work. It was a montage of sound, words, and visual images. I discovered Trish Morrisey in one of the dossiers that were shared with me, this influenced a project I was working on in my own studies with OCA. ( Studio Practice Part 3, Assignment) I translated collaboration from Latin: collaborare, to labour together, which implies people doing something together in order to achieve something. It is weird how this can happen in an online environment. Our group really got on well and sharing was kind and generous. This positive experience encouraged me to keep in contact with the group after this session.
30 October 2021 Session
Below is the written document, my part of the presentation we did.
All the presentations were recorded and shared only with the group. I will not share it on my blog for the sake of the confidentiality of the group – a safe learning environment that I want to respect. All groups had 7 minutes to present and a wider general discussion followed at the end. Most groups used overlapping soundtracks and images, but the real text stayed hidden till after everyone presented. It was exciting to see how generative the ideas became as pictures, words, written text or sound. Our text revealed to be the one called Pictures, a lecture by an emancipated slave, Frederick Douglas, in a lecture on photography.
Reflection
I think the value of this workshop will be ongoing in my learning. So much about how language and understanding are part of our visual culture was touched on. I realize how we can never escape words – I started looking at the Las Meninas in my studies and how this has been translated and interpreted left me astounded. I also enjoyed where language became more abstract can be deliberate and provocative – great when one can translate this into your own making process. I feel the practical experience from these workshops fits well into my current study level and keeps me motivated.
I learned that when I work with words, I use my mother tongue, Afrikaans. It was inspiring to use it in this context of sense-making and understanding text and images. My ideas about making were broadened and this engagement with others as well as another type of work, like text, was highly motivating.