Asuka Goto
Philadelphia, PA
asukagoto.com

Artist Statement

In 2015, I began translating, with limited knowledge of the language, a novel that my father had written, years before, in Japanese. From the outset, I knew that a faithful translation was out of my reach, but I was compelled by the puzzle that the book represented and interested in how my translation would alternately reflect and distort the original.

“To Send a Telegram” features digital reproductions of a selection of my translation notes, along with excerpts from a personal essay I wrote about the project. A few of the pages contain screen printed and/or collaged elements, in the spirit of the original translation “drawings”. The cover, which I screen printed by hand, was thoughtfully designed by Crisis.