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Dear Barbara, Dear Mum,


I am writing to you to invite you to take part in 'Translating Medea', a year-long(?) project in expanded notions of translation, the translated, the untranslated and the untranslatable.

Using Helene Cixous’ eleven page untranslated French text 'Apres Medea' as source, I am inviting 10 different groupings of people to work with me to “translate” a page each.

The “target” could take one of many many forms, and has no loyalty to traditional translation techniques. We might write a script, a conversation, an essay, a fiction, an image, a performance or none of these. I envisage each chapter being of a collaborative nature, and I will take the role of a guide or facilitator as well as a collaborator, throughout each.

Each group will function slightly differently to accommodate geographical situations, familiarity between participants, and particular interests. Each group however, will immerse itself with a series of texts, fragments, and other media to help contextualise and hold Apres Medea. This “environment” will initially be suggested by me, but can unfold and evolve collectively.

My proposal, if you are interested, would be to begin working together in a slow, casual and yet committed manner. To begin, we might hold an open discussion to clarify any questions you might have, before beginning reading a text together as initial steps towards developing our environment.

I really hope to hear back from you.

This page includes preparatory notes towards project

TRANSLATING MEDEA

Medea About to Murder Her Children

by Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862)