Purple, bodies in translation -
part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age

2017, single channel video with stereo sound, mirrored screen, tinted spotlights

With text by Lina Mounzer and Stefan Tarnowski

The video merely shows a color: purple, projected on a mirrored screen that allows the viewers to see their own reflection, to see themselves within the subtitled frame. The image is defined solely by what is heard: Lina Mounzer reading an excerpt from her essay 'War in Translation: Giving Voice to the Women of Syria' on the act of translation as an internalized process; and Stefan Tarnowski describing the intricacies of translating subtitles for the anonymous film collective Abounaddara and their collaborative process. The voices are woven together with threads sampled from various essays, poems, songs–addressing the poetics of purple as a feeling. This immersive installation reflects on the role of the subtitle, the details lost in translation, and what additional elements and contradictions are created by the juxtaposition between subtitles and image.