Amy Tavern: Translation

Artist list

Amy Tavern

Observation is the act or instance of noticing. As a resident in a new and foreign place, my power of observation has become important to me in unusual and often unexpected ways. It has also become heightened in a way that allows me to simply see more. Over the course of more than two months I have recorded my daily observations with photographs, drawings, and text, everyday encountering things I have never seen before. These observations are moments between specific inanimate objects and me, and, unbeknownst to them, between other people and me. They are also impressions of the beauty I see in my surroundings, such as the often-gray sky of Belgium or the sense of history preserved in its architecture and urban decay. Finally, they are representations of maps and walks and the work of the Baroque painters.
Translation is a change from one form to another.  Also as a resident of a new and foreign place, I translate almost everything I do: language, time, measurement, temperature, currency. At first my ability to translate was slow and challenging, often taxing. Then gradually with practice, the process became quicker until eventually translating was nearly second nature.
 My new work focuses on my observations and the way I translate them to tangible objects. I observe, I record, I translate in my mind, I form an opinion. Then I develop an idea for an object and translate it again into a new, physical form. This process and the resulting pieces are how I understand my new home and share the experience with others. Ultimately, they are the reverent manifestations of a personal collection of memories.

- Amy Tavern