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Purple, Bodies in Translation – Part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age

Forum Expanded 2017
© Joe Namy
The installation is based on two texts that discuss the act of translating war and resilience. It is designed as an immersive experience, to create a reflective space for the audience to think through 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 viewers 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, and how her own experience shapes how she processes and internalizes the testimonies in order to distill the essence of the words.
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.
by Joe Namy Lebanon 2017 English, Arabic 15’ Colour

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Director Joe Namy

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Joe Namy

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Joe Namy

© Joe Namy

Joe Namy, born in 1978 in Lansing, USA, is an artist, composer, and educator based between London and Beirut. His work often addresses identity, memory, and power structures embedded in sound/music; and has shown internationally in galleries, museums, film festivals, and public performances. Half Blue marks his forth appearance in Forum Expanded.

Filmography

2008 Locusts; 10 min. · Locusts; 10 min. 2009 People Not Places; 12 min. · People Not Places; 12 min. · Jnoub (South Lebanon); 12 min. · Jnoub (South Lebanon); 12 min. 2010 Detroit Summer; 4 min. · Detroit Summer; 4 min. · Foreclosure Reversal; 4 min. · Foreclosure Reversal; 4 min. · Under the Shade of Apprehension; 7 min. · Under the Shade of Apprehension; 7 min. 2014 Testify; 6 min. · Testify; 6 min. · Half Step; 1 min., Forum Expanded 2014 · Half Step; 1 min., Forum Expanded 2014 2015 Dive; 5 min. · Dive; 5 min. · Stones Gods People; 5 min., Forum Expanded 2016 · Stones Gods People; 5 min., Forum Expanded 2016 2017 Purple, Bodies in Translation – Part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age; 15 min., Forum Expanded 2017 · Purple, Bodies in Translation – Part II of A Yellow Memory from the Yellow Age 2019 Half Blue; 10 min.

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020