Polina Isurin

Polina Isurin

  • About
    • Bio & Statement
    • Resume
    • Contact
  • Paintings
  • Installations
    • Beyond Translation: Moving Between/Across/Through Languages as Part of a Research Practice
    • remove, replace, add
    • ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
      • Text & Photo Documentation
      • Ethical Manipulations- Video Projection
      • Justice- Video Projection
    • Rootlessness
      • Text & Photo Documentation
      • Rootlessness recording
    • Buried Secret (Obelisk for the Future)
    • Azores, Portugal
  • Writings, Videos, Mixed Media
    • Mixed Media
    • Writings
      • Obelisk for the Future
      • The (Un) Consumable
      • XY
      • Dокuмент [x] along with artwork 'Nonfunctional Green Card for The Gulf War'
    • Videos
  • Community Murals (in collaboration with students)
  • Archive
Dusha
Ink on canvas
16"x20"

In Russian culture, the notion of a "душа" closely translates to the English word, soul. There exists a level of frustration when English words are unable to capture the true meaning of a Russian idea. This frustration is played out through code-switching: when a speaker alternates between two language varieties during the context of a single conversation. For some, code-switching becomes a natural form of speech, and perhaps for many people their natural form of thought. We articulate our emotions and ideas in a single language, yet the way in which we contrive of them is in a unique mental construction specific to an individual. The painting "Dusha" is a visual representation of code-switching, using the Cyrillic and English alphabet to mesh the true spelling of the Russian "soul" with the word's phonetic spelling.