ilvs strauss presents ñ (enye), a bilingual multimedia exhibit challenging the way we listen

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What began as a two-week art residency at SUM gallery in Vancouver ended as a multimedia exhibition that challenges the ear to hear languages ​​from a bilingual perspective.

Honduran American artist ilvs strauss will present ñ (enye) on Nov. 19 at the gallery. The exhibition is an extension of work strauss completed two years ago, which focuses on visuals, so she decided to return to it and make a zine out of text. 

By playing with English and Spanish translations, strauss experimented with sounds to develop the piece that will be presented. 

“I gravitate towards doing multimedia work, and this piece is all projected text. I really enjoy working with different ways to convey language,” strauss says. 

What happens when a translator becomes unreliable is a question strauss asked herself while working with translations for Kidd Pivot, a contemporary dance theatre company, as a technician. 

strauss realized that the world is not very accessible to Spanish speakers, and translation can be a complex process — from getting the timing right to ensuring that it contains the similar amount of words as in English. 

“I’m curious what it would be like if I had some of it just in Spanish, but didn’t translate it into English or vice versa,” she says. “Different members of the audience are experiencing different things from the piece, but doing it in a way that doesn’t alienate any population.”

For the exhibition, strauss became fixated on the letter N, or Ñ (enye) in Spanish, as it can be hard to get the Spanish translation to pop up on a screen.   

The name represents the accessibility she seeks to raise awareness among the population, especially to help the Latin American community living in Vancouver. 

strauss’s mother is originally from Honduras, so she grew up in a bilingual environment while being raised in California. This is something she describes as a blessing, but it also made her reflect on the accessibility of the language and the difficulties that Spanish speakers face when living abroad and trying to translate everything into English.

At the exhibit’s opening reception, strauss will do a reading of the zine, play a video that shows her creating elements of the exhibit, and will have some of her work up for sale. She plans to continue doing work with the SUM gallery to create more exhibitions like this that support artists in the area. 

“The piece is a lot about sound, so I hope to provide a different perspective on listening, invite people to think about how they listen and hear things, and ignite a curiosity in visitors around that topic.” 

For more information about the exhibition and to reserve free tickets for the opening reception on Nov. 19, visit www.bit.ly/3CqvYRL.