Motivated by Brexit, Talking Transformations first project focuses on the UK and the countries most important to EU migration into and from the UK: respectively Romania & Poland and France & Spain. British poetry is sent through literary translation via France to Spain before returning home; in parallel, an original Polish poem travels through translation from Poland via Romania to the UK before returning to Poland. The poems are also translated into film art en route.
The original poems have been commissioned on the basis of public workshops held with local communities in Britain and Poland. The resulting poetry and films will be exhibited physically (in festivals, public workshops) and on this website.
The Polish poem written by Rafał Gawin has been translated into an art film (by Zuzanna Janin) and into English (by me). The Polish poem and art film are translated into yet another art film (by Ghenadi Popescu) and into Romanian (by Teodor Ajder). The Romanian translations are translated into English (by Jozefina Komporaly) and then back into Polish (by Marta Dziurosz).
The samples of results of this mind-boggling journey can be seen on Talking Transformations website. More to come, so watch this space!
