Neeko Paluzzi

Neeko Paluzzi (he/him) holds two master degrees from the University of Ottawa: a Masters of Fine Arts (2022) and a Masters of Film Studies (2013).

In addition, he is a graduate of the Photographic Arts and Production program at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (2017). He was the recipient of the Karsh Continuum Photography Award from the City of Ottawa in 2021, had a feature exhibition at the Scotiabank CONTACT Festival in 2019, and was the winner of the 2018 Project X, Photography Grant from the Ottawa Arts Council.

Paluzzi currently teaches English at the Official Languages and
Bilingualism Institute.

He lives and works on the unceded, unsurrendered
territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation (Gatineau, QC). He is currently working on creative projects through his autonomous residency at the Centre de production DAÏMÔN.

“I am a lens-based artist and language educator who uses translation theories to create inter-textual
installations. From music to literature, I am interested in translating other texts – both visual and non-visual
– into my own photographic language that often situates my own queer body at the centre of these visual
translations.

This act not only challenges the traditional position of the translator, but also allows me to examine my own subjectivity and performativity in the act of translation. In order to overtly or covertly embed my body into my installations, I use digital technologies, such as 3D-scanning/printing and deep-fake algorithms. These
photographic techniques create digital doubles of myself that examine contemporary queerness and identity. Although I utilize technologies that situate my practice within the early twenty-first century, my art practice is grounded by the rigors of darkroom chemistry and scholarly research, presenting opportunities
to explore the history of lens-based art in conversation with other artists and academics.

I am drawn to texts that have various linguistic translations and adaptations into other media. Following the translation doctrine of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), I am not bound to the original source, but rather
focus on the various incarnations and modifications that have occurred throughout the years. This intertextual approach to translation is non-hierarchical and anti-colonial, and places equal importance on all versions of a text. To Borges, a pure translation does not exist and each translation is a mirror that reflects
the translator who created it. I choose to stand directly in front of this mirror in order to reveal a new layer
of myself with each translation installation.”

-Neeko Paluzzi