The poet Eliot Weinberger, the primary translator of Octavio Paz into English describes translation as “the journey to the other”. Translations are the bridges that connect languages to a plurality of minds, which makes translators the builders, architects and engineers of these bridges. It allows literature, ideas, and theory to cross borders beyond the language spoken by its author. In this case “the other” rests in both ends of the bridge, it is the author waiting to be read and the reader waiting to read. It acknowledges the unknown within the other, and it hopes to understand both. The act of translating carries meaning from one place to another, therefore it involves movement. This is the Journey that perhaps Weinberger is trying to describe, and as an artist I am trying to experience when working with translation.
Bio
Emilio Rojas was born in Mexico City. He is a multimedia and performance artist whose works explore the relation between the artist and the viewer, interacting and exchanging roles. His works require the participation of the viewer, in order to set in motion the metaphors that unveil the intricacy of his art. The intrinsic relation with the body has been both his subject matter and medium. Exploring the mental and physical limits of his being, Emilio reevaluates standards of beauty, activism, gender, traditions and sexuality. He is currently based in Vancouver, B.C., where he is enrolled at ECUAD. His performance, videos and collaborative works have been exhibited in United States, Canada, Mexico, Austria, England, Germany, and Australia. Rojas recently participated in the 54th Venice Biennale as part of the Pirate Camp; Stateless Pavilion.
