Acts of Translation: Allison Grant
"Acts of Translation: Allison Grant" is the first in a series of collaborative books from Big Jump Press devoted to translation and communication. Text for this project was gathered, edited, and recombined by Sarah Bryant from a series of recorded interviews with Allison Grant conducted in 2021 and 2022. The images are tracings of photographs taken by Grant at Hurricane Creek in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2019. "Isa at the Swimming Hole" was selected from 21 frames, eight of which are represented as traced drawings in the book. "Isa at the Swimming Hole" is part of Grant’s series "Within the Bittersweet," a dark pastoral examination of her experiences raising her children amid concerns about the impacts of the climate crisis and environmental contamination.
Papers for this project include Clearprint Design Vellum, Colorplan, and Canon Pro Premium Matte Photo Paper. Text was set in Arno and Myriad type and printed letterpress using polymer plates from Boxcar Press. The photograph was inkjet printed by Allison Grant in her studio. This project was made possible by financial support and community building from the Collaborative Arts Research Initiative at The University of Alabama.
This book has been produced in an edition of 66, of which 26 copies are lettered a through z and bound individually, and 40 copies are numbered and bound alongside other collaborative components of the "Acts of Translation" project.
"Acts of Translation" is a forthcoming series of collaborative books which share a common theme and set of dimensions. Each component of the project will examine an act of translation, broadly defined as “the conversion and communication of information,” and interpret that act through the combination of text, image, material choices, and book structure. When complete, these books will be gathered into a boxed set, each book an exploration of the theme from the perspective of a different individual. Housed together, the books will offer unexpected points of connection across disciplines.
Allison Grant is a photographer, writer, and curator. Her artworks have been widely exhibited at venues including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Patti & Rusty Rueff Galleries at Purdue University, Edelman Gallery in Chicago, and the Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati, among others. She was named on the Silver Eye Center for Photography’s 2022 Silver List. Grant received the 2020 Portfolio Purchase Award from the Atlanta Photography Group, the 2019 Developed Work Fellowship from the Midwest Center for Photography and was shortlisted for the 2019 FotoFilmic Mesh Prize. Works by Grant are held in collections at the High Museum of Art, DePaul Art Museum, Columbia College Chicago, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Research Foundation art collection, Cisco Systems Corporate Art Collection in Durham, NC, and the King County Portable Works Collection in Seattle.
Grant has curated exhibitions at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Photoforum Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland; Filter Space, Chicago; and Atlanta Contemporary. Essays by Grant have appeared in "Minding Nature Journal" and "INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media", as well as numerous artist publications and exhibition catalogs. Grant holds an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design. She is currently an assistant professor of photography at The University of Alabama.
