Lost in Translation

For Lost in Translation I will be transcribing a piece of my poetry that talks about my experience in Beijing into Morse. The text will be read out in Morse code by a flashing lamp. The piece will consist of a traditional Chinese lantern with a light bulb installed in it turning on and off. By the side of the installation, the viewer will find flyers where the poem can be read in Morse, English and Chinese. 

In this project I am looking at how, whenever you are displaced from your natural environment, because of a change of context, the understanding by others of your ideas and concepts gets distorted. Without us noticing, the language we use, and its words, change the way we think and express ourselves. When displaced, we notice that all the hues we have built up with years of usage of our mother tongue have suddenly disappeared: nobody notices the ironic tone in our voice, or understands the word games we use anymore. The way we talk now gets dissolved in its transmission, losing its original meaning forever.