Pages: Single sheet Size: 2490 x 650mm Edition: One of 2 copies
Place publication: Johannesburg Publisher: David Paton
Additional notes: Exhibition poster and vinyl-cut wall texts for the exhibition: War, Death, Fear & Apocalyptic Imagery
In acknowledging that visitors to the exhibition might not be familiar with Cendrars’s prose, nor able to read the French text of Prose du Transsibérien in its vitrine at the start of the exhibition, I designed and printed a full-length poster of Prose with a parallel panel containing Timothy Younge’s English translation [Figure 11a, b & c]. This poster was displayed at the start of the exhibition, adjacent to the work and provided another key by which to negotiate the exhibition.
You will see from the caption for Fig 11a that Gina Diandra Rodrigues (a Graphic Design student at the time) did the layout work and interpreted the coloured shapes in relation to the English translation freely so as to give a sense of the original. There was no attempt to copy or replicate the original directly as, after all, this is a translation in all respects.
I had no end of problems printing the poster and eventually got Lightfarm to do the printing as they understood the need for colour accuracy. Jetline Printers were unable to match the vibrancy required.
I also consulted the translations by Ron Padgett and Donald Wellman in my research, but decided that Younge's translation was best suited to my curatorial vision.