In our Annex, Gato Negro Ediciones and Phoneme Media present PÁJAROS INVISIBLE(S) BIRDS!>:* SINGING SILENTLY REFLECTING CANTANDO;). The exhibition brings into visual dialogue the publishers’ commitment to amplifying a vast range of voices from around the world. Deploying Gato Negro’s signature graphic style, the walls of the gallery are covered by over 200 risograph tabloid prints featuring text excerpts and images from their 200+ published books and translations in over twenty languages. The prints are arranged to converse, complement, and even clash. Upon entering the space, one is engaged in an exercise of concentration, dispersion, choreography, singing, and melody. PÁJAROS INVISIBLE(S) BIRDS!>:* SINGING SILENTLY REFLECTING CANTANDO;) calls for a discussion of the possibilities and limits of understanding the printed word in translation.

The installation includes a montage of video work created with writers and collaborators of Phoneme Media. Poetry from the Democratic Republic of the Congo converses with text and imagery from the Chamishko IDP Camp (Internally Displaced People) in Northern Iraq. Imagery from São Tomé and Príncipe contrasts with experimental film from Mexico. Language—and languages, including Isthmus Zapotec, Japanese, and Kirundi—accrete in layers of meaning and contradiction to contribute toward the Annex’s print installation’s exploration of possible connections beyond the confines of an individual work.