Artist Statement: With respect to translation, Dr. Soheil Bushrui used to say you should study the works of others, draw upon them, but still do your own work. It is my belief that every additional translation, each fresh rendering of a work, only adds another perspective. The work of translation is like painting: different artists can paint the same scene, but render it differently, according to their unique angle or view. And while one person will paint the scene in oils, another will paint in watercolors,and a third will create a sculpture. Translation is like that: each individual renders the original according to his or her own understanding of the words and their meaning.
Bio: Shahin Mowzoon holds a MA in engineering and works as the chief data scientist in a supply chain company. He completed Stanford University’s fiction writers’ program, and is currently working on a Master’s in creative writing and English literature at Harvard University. Shahin serves as the staff translator for elixir-journal.org, in whose pages his translation of Tahirih’s well-known poem,
“If I Were to Gaze Upon Your Face,” appears. He was recognized as a finalist in the prestigious Barnstone Translation Contest for his translation of one of Rumi’s poems. He has translated poems by W. B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot into Persian as well as various classical and contemporary Persian poets into English. Shahin’s travels have taken him to over 30 countries. In his spare time, he paints in the impressionist style, draws portraits in charcoal, and plays the Spanish guitar.