Η Πόλις (The City)
[These] are two pages and two spreads from a "translation" project where I translated Greek Poet C.P. Cavafy's famous poem Η Πόλις or The City into a handmade art book. You can find the original poem here and an English translation here. The book itself is about A6 size, and includes greek lettering, found images, and hand painted elements. This project was inspired by the idea that translation is never an a=a equation, but more of an a=α=א etc etc. The ideas that are lost by turning a poem into an art book might not exist in a more traditional translation, while Edmund Keely's English version of the poem does not capture everything that the Greek does.
ZOE GUTTENPLAN lives between New York City, London, and Vermont. Her work has appeared in BlazeVOX17, Ratrock Magazine, 10011 Magazine Online, Remembered Arts Journal, and Feels Zine: Anger. She is the recipient of a SELEF prize for poetry.