Ladan Bahmani

I joined the faculty of Illinois State University in Fall 2017, after finishing my MFA degree in Graphic Design from Michigan State University.

My research is about language and translation. I am investigating the ways in which various forms of translation alter visual and textual information. Considering the speed of communication and transfer of information in today’s world, what is lost and gained during this translation process is important. Through translation, a translator could revisit, redesign, or rewrite a message, allowing the subject to be viewed through a different lens and from a different perspective. In the context of the visual world, alteration in medium, time and space results in new translations.

The concept of translation is specifically vital in our current technologically mediated communication. Technology intervenes in the transfer of a message, modifies it, and “translates” it into a new “language.” For example, emoji, the pictographic language for communicating various emotions and situations, has developed as a result of the technological interventions in our everyday communication.