A couple of days ago I was at the Andrew Edlin Gallery in Chelsea helping out a professor with his latest book project. The exhibition with its strongly worded title of "Die, Nazi Scum!" is a collection of propaganda posters from the WWII era Soviet Union. The posters definitely send a persuasive message to its audience, in some ways reminiscent of American propaganda posters of the WWI era, with their depiction of the Germans as evil and inhuman. The posters range from images with one liners to entire pieces of prose. A particularly powerful piece was composed by the famous poet Konstantin Simonov urging the Soviet citizen to pick up arms on behalf of his homeland and family for if "you won't kill the German, no one will". The trip was also interesting for me, because I got to experience first hand the nuances of translation. As a native Russian speaker I noted that some phrases were translated in similar, but not identical terms which often changed the meaning. I also came to appreciate how often times a work of art is difficult to interpret as parts of the text are not translated thus leaving important contextual cues inaccessible to the general public.
The exhibition will still be open after the holidays so I recommend that anyone that has an interest in WWII or the Soviet Union take the time to visit.
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| Courtesy of Andrew Edlin Gallery |
