Free Translation Workshop for professionals - Your Story Is Important

“(Tyttö) Punatukkainen tyttö” by Kaija.

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Welcome to join a professional development workshop on how to incorporate artistic practice into a rehabilitation program. We will present the Free Translation project, share our techniques, and discuss ways to participate in the program. We will create a room for us all to share and to hear more about your work. The main language of the meeting will be held in English. Language support in Finnish and in Russian can be given. If you would like to join this meeting and need special technical or communication support, please let us know in your registration form. We strive for an equitable society where art is accessible and dialogue is encouraged.

Meeting via Zoom on:
May 12th from 17:00-18:30 EEST
May 13th from 10:00-11:30 EEST

Free Translation (2017, Helsinki, Finland) is an ongoing international art project and a series of open workshops for system-impacted people to share their thoughts and experience through art practice. In this project we use translation techniques as a means of creatively interpreting works of art. This means that we interpret the meaning of the works and create new works of art based on the translations. This can be a translation into another language or another medium. For example, a poem can be realized into a photograph and a drawing can be written as a letter. In this way, we make new works of art and literature, and attempt to understand each other and ourselves as we have an open dialogue. After a new work is complete, it is sent to the original author via an art exchange program. To date we have received over 100 works of art from people affected by incarceration who have participated in our program. Visit the online gallery at https://freetranslation.prisonspace.org.

As a result of many years of collaborating with system-affected people, we recognize the need to prepare a person for the reintegration into society. Free Translation project experts see the idea of reintegration to mean finding a place in society, but also how to communicate, confront, and approach and identify one's feelings, thoughts, and needs. The project offers a diverse, inclusive and transcultural approach to arts in and around institutionalization.

Working together with organizations in Finland and abroad we can reach more people who are in need of tools for self-expression. This is a unique project for Finland, as it allows the sharing of art, experience, and knowledge internationally. This project ensures diversity, promotes empathy, and helps to build a more tolerant society. As inclusivity and creating space for all voices to be heard is the project’s aim, we have implemented a way for incarcerated artists to create with others.  

Our community is a skill-sharing based group for artists, educators, lawyers, policymakers, social workers in Russia, Finland, Belgium, the United States, and beyond. In this cross-disciplinary project we invite workers from different departments, such as social workers, psychologists, guards, and educators. 

​Space is limited and registration is required. The first admitted 15 persons will be able to join. Subsequent registrations will be put on the waiting list.  Zoom link will be sent to you the day before the event. Please register here or use the form below.

About the authors: Anastasia Artemeva and Arlene Tucker are artists, researchers, educators and diversity agents, who come from the perspective and field of creative expression and process based arts through open dialogue.  We are experts in promoting diversity within the creative arts and strive to ensure everyone is included and heard. We have been working extensively with different groups of people of all ages, including youth in children’s homes, currently and formerly incarcerated people, folks in retirement homes, in Finland and abroad. We are honored to be supported by the Arts Promotion Center Finland and Kone Foundation.
We can be reached at info@prisonspace.org.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Our best,
Anastasia & Arlene