Joe Namy
2021Purple, Bodies in Translation – Part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age
Joe Namy
This installation is based on two texts that discuss the act of translating war and resilience, the intricacies of the wars in Syria and Iraq, mediated through testimony. The video merely shows a color: purple, projected on a mirrored screen that allows the viewer to see their own reflection, to see themselves within the subtitled text. Lina Mounzer’s essay ‘War in Translation: Giving Voice to the Women of Syria’ weaves the testimonies she is translating with her own personal experience of living through the civil war in Lebanon. Stefan Tarnowski’s essay ‘Subtitling a Film’ describes the intricacies of translating subtitles for the anonymous film collective Abounaddara and the special collaborative process of working for someone he has never met. Tarnowski uses this experience to reflect on the role of the subtitle, the details lost in translation, and what additional elements and contradictions are created by the differences between subtitles and image.
Purple, Bodies in Translation – Part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age
Half Blue
Joe Namy
Half Blue is part of the Joe Namy’s long-term poetic exploration on the colors, tones, and language that have emerged around the increasing militarization of police and the greater impact of this aggression, specifically on the artist’s family, friends, and community. The sound piece addresses the many forms of injustice that are symptomatic of aggressive policing, from direct physical violence on communities held suspect, or as systematic violence from a justice system that values certain lives, skin tones, and cultural groups over others. In Half Blue, Namy offers a space for contemplation, a space to honor those who have fallen victim to this type of injustice, and a space to celebrate strategies for coping and resilience.
Half Blue