Translation

2023, site-specific installation

Glass, pine branches, concrete, projector

Translation explores how meaning distorts as it passes from person to person, moment to moment, through the imperfect lens of memory. Made in response to my mother’s death in 2023, the work considers what remains when a life completes and begins its passage into memory. In these translations—between individuals, across generations, through time—loss is inevitable.

Blue light projects through shards of glass mounted on freshly fallen pine branches, still dying and sticky with resin, supported by crumbling concrete bases that allude to ash and decay. Many of the glass pieces bear fingerprints, illustrating the tension between loving touch and imminent danger. As viewers move through the space, the light shifts—on the glass, on the walls, refracted across the room—creating a system of relationships that unfolds differently for each person. The senses are pared down to the smells of pine and the hum of the projector. No encounter with the piece can be repeated, and in this way, Translation resists the impulse to fix or preserve, instead asking us to witness transformation as it unfolds.