Existing in the obscure(d) – Unearthing and exploring collaborative lineages of non-literal translations / Isobel Adderley (2023)

Abstract “Existing in the obscure(d) – Unearthing and exploring collaborative lineages of non-literal translations” by Isobel Adderley, discusses what occurred in the process of translating meaning and concepts through bodies both human and non-human. This is explored through Isobel’s solo use of sound, textiles and writing, as well as the involvement of multiple creative practitioners who non-literally translated meaning through chains of collaborative lineages, culminating in the development of the repetitive practice of her ‘Unearthing’ score. This research draws from embodied practices, artistic practices of repetitive translations, matrilineages, the geologic and Derrida’s Ellipsis (1978) to better understand meaning and concepts, their journey through bodies, time and matter and their existence in liminal space. ‘Strata’ methodology is a layered framework which aims to obscure as well as expose. ‘Strata’ is used to structure the timeline of research and its content as sedimental layers through which the researcher’s body moved. Strata is matter sympoietically tangled (Haraway, 2016) over time to create land, this connects to the researcher’s examination of the “sympathetic vibration” (Oliveros, 2022, p.57) between human and non-human matter. Strata’s distinctly layered yet intermingled formation symbolises the separate and cacophonous, singular and multiple aspects present in the genealogy of; Isobel’s own physical form, the collaborative ‘lineage’ practice, the English language and theoretical concepts. As meaning exists in an internal and often un-occupiable space the journey to reach ‘understanding’ becomes an attempt at un-earthing, exposing that which was obscured or hidden. This research culminates in discoveries of; sense felt not found, the necessity of repetitive action and attempts, the location of the researcher’s body in relation to her practice and the creation of new earth/surface from which to emerge from.

Key-words – Obscure, translation, encounter, emblem, palimpsest, strata, unearthing, Derrida, cave, Deep Listening, heterotopia, poetic, lineages, matrilineages, matter, origin, end, ythlaf.