WORDS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND OTHER WORDS
Detail of left panel: The River, Twice
After translations of two Heraclitus fragments
This panel, from the translation by Brooks Haxton, 2001
Diptych
2023
Canvas, paper, ink with mica, acrylic paint, embroidery floss, copper leaf, gold leaf, aluminum foil strip
Each panel: 52 × 34 inches
This work is from the ongoing series Words in the Public Domain and Other Words. The series consists of doublings of texts that are either in the public domain or translations from texts that are the in the public domain. This work features two different translations of excerpts from the “Fragments” by Heraclitus: numbers 41 and 10. The left panel features a contemporary translation by Brooks Haxton, 2001; the right panel, an earlier one by G.T.W. Patrick, 1889.
Each variation corresponds to a different translated interpretation of the well-known aphorism: One cannot step into the same river twice.
In addition, the less known aphorism—number 10—is transcribed in the lower part of the work.