About this episode
Lauren Wetmore interviews Line Ajan about her work as a curator and translator, focusing on the intimacy and collaborative nature of translation within the context of decolonial perspectives on institutional histories of homosexuality.
In this episode of Momus: The Podcast, Lauren Wetmore speaks with Line Ajan, a Franco-Syrian curator and translator and member of the editorial, artistic, and curatorial collective Qalqalah . The conversation unfolds through a reading of Iranian artist Ashkan Sepahvand’s text “Showing Without Revealing,” written for the 2017 exhibition he curated at Berlin’s Schwules Museum , which presented a decolonial perspective on institutional histories of homosexuality. Ajan discusses translating Sepahvand’s text into French with Qalqalah, whose members work across English, French, and Arabic. Reflecting on the process, she considers translation as a collaborative and situated practice and speaks about her own work across languages shaped by different colonial histories. She also brings forward the intimacy of translation as a form of reading, and the influence of writers including Sarah Rifky, Karim Kattan, Etel Adnan, and Gayatri Spivak. Momus: The Podcast is edited by Jacob Irish, with production assistance from Chris Andrews. Thanks to Line Ajan for her contribution to this season.
People in this episode
Host: Lauren Wetmore
Guest: Line Ajan
Topics covered
- curation
- translation
- decolonial perspective
- institutional histories
- homosexuality
- collaborative practice
- colonial histories
- intimacy of translation
Keywords
- Franco-Syrian
- Ashkan Sepahvand
- Qalqalah
- Schwules Museum
- Sarah Rifky
- Karim Kattan
- Etel Adnan
- Gayatri Spivak
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Showing Without Revealing
Places: Berlin
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