Lost in Translation
Artist Statement
Lost in Translation
an MFA thesis exhibition by Amanda Barr
I use my own history of trauma, abuse, and disability to create objects that are at once culturally recognizable and highly personal; it is my hope that each viewer will recognize the overarching themes and identify them within their own experiences, thus encountering a moment of reflection, empathy, or even catharsis. My work is meant to be uncomfortable, to evoke a sense of anxiety or disquiet. Trauma is a disruption, so my work is created to be eerily beautiful, delicate and fine porcelain and glass formed into shapes with unsettling evocations. Society may prefer we not address this, but only by confronting and addressing them can we move forward.
"Lost in Translation" addresses the issues that trauma can create in communication; whether that be a physical trauma that damages ability to speak, think, or understand language, or mental and emotional trauma that significantly effects abilities to process, connect, and manage interpersonal relationships. My work is my voice, and a way to help others connect, to feel heard, and to even help them begin to communicate.
On and off over the past 15 years I have worked off and on as an educator, writer, and translator in English / Spanish. Part of that job is not to simply convert each word one-to-one, but to interpret ideas, meaning, concepts and a hundred different aspects of communication outside of simple word definitions. Language is not simply words and grammar but idioms, tone, cultural concepts and dialect. False cognates (embarazada does not mean embarrassed), dialectic shifts (in Spain one can coger el autobús, but in México this has wildly different connotations), or vocabulary gaps can implode a conversation. Communication is a never-ending mine field of missteps and missed connections.
In “Lost in Translation” neon lights– culturally tied to the OPEN and NO / VACANCY signs at bars and roadside motels– display text in multiple languages, surrounded by abstracted porcelain objects. t's doubtful any audience member speaks every language. The objects– thistles, pointe shoes, prairie sunflowers, lilies, skulls, and face masks, have been dipped in liquid clay and fired out, leaving only ashes inside their ceramic shells behind as evidence. In this work, I want the audience to feel the frustration that myself and others feel as we try to relate through the tangles and thorns of disability and PTSD– something that has been made infinitely harder during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PRESS
"Art Explores Communication, Miscommunication" article in The Missoulian, 16 Sept 2021