Translations: between reflections, intersections deepen, grow & emerge (b.r.i.d.g.e.)
Translations: between reflections, intersections deepen, grow, & emerge (b.r.i.d.g.e.) is my 2022 response to Covid-19, launched exactly two years after our lives were changed by the global pandemic. I had used the Translations process to explore both how we cope individually (in 2020) and how we care for each other (in 2021) during challenging times. In this iteration, we looked toward how we re-emerge, how we connect with each other and relate to each others’ experiences, and how we share enough to feel seen without having to explain the complexity of how we are doing.
Two chains were each started by two participants tasked with sharing a word that related to a challenge or joy experienced during the pandemic. Both of the words were then sent to two different participants who were asked to create art and title it with a single word that might exist at the intersection of the two prompts they received. The chain continued as each artist individually made art that attempted to connect the two prior prompts in the chain. Though I was hoping the two artists might eventually have come up with the same title to their work, they did get pretty darn close. Scroll down to view the two complete chains and explore how different artists each honored the diversity and intersectionality of various artworks as they considered multiple perspectives and attempted to bridge the divide set before them.
More about the process: Previous iterations of Translations have been inspired by the game “telephone.” This one was inspired by a game I was introduced to by my friends Becky and Greg. They called it “Intersections,” though with some research into the improv world I have discovered it also has been called “Convergence,” and “Mind Meld,” and I even discovered that it was a game popularized by the band Ok Go called “Say the Same Thing,” and was also briefly a tik tok phenomenon called the “Got it Game.” (Who knew?!) The game asks two people to count down and say a word at the same time. Chances are they will be different random words. Then the players try to think of a common thing between/associated with those two words, count down again and say their new word. They keep trying until they say the same word at the same time. The game is super fun, but one thing I love about it is that it requires you to consider and integrate what someone else says and figure out a way for it to connect with your own perspective. In the first two years of the pandemic we weren’t always able to relate to each other’s individual experiences. This project sought to acknowledge other perspectives as well as find commonality and connection in reflecting on our shared experience.
Note: this iteration was definitely more challenging than previous versions on multiple levels. Emerging from the pandemic meant people had less time to offer, and needing to wait for two creations before being able to send to the next artists meant more delays between links. It took a full year to complete and was finally shared back on the 3rd anniversary of the shutdown. All that said, the various translations are fascinating and inspiring and I hope you enjoy exploring them.