Days of Bliss and Woe: A Third Language
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2023
434 x 290 inches, Acrylic and varnish on plywood and timber
When we translate from one tongue to another, it could be said that we arrive at a third form of speech that sits somewhere between the two. Drawn from the QAGOMA Collection, ‘A Third Language’ explores what happens when artistic traditions roam, mutate, clash and grapple with each other, and the rich expression emerging from cultural interaction and negotiation. Cultural encounters often occur within a context of asymmetrical power relations, notably colonialism or slavery; the works in this display reveal how such dynamics are resisted. Encompassing a wide range of hybrid forms, they show how difference can generate new ways of seeing.
Iman Raad’s large-scale mural commands the gallery space; the vibrant patchwork installation charts the migration of painting across the Middle East and South Asia. As images are copied and re-copied in different locations, they are enriched by the inevitable mistranslations that occur in the chain of reproduction.
Image courtesy QAGOMA and Iman Raad
Photos by Joe Ruckli and C. Callistemon