Visual: Feryel Kaabeche
Visual: Feryel Kaabeche
A survey of archives collected by Dominique Dehais
Developed in dialogue with the DykeFag4FagDyke collective, this workshop explores the connections between dykes and fags through translation. Led by two lesbian artists, it approaches translation as a practice of tenderness toward the gay community, through a shared language. Each facilitator works from an author: Essex Hemphill for Lou Rappeneau and Gregg Bordowitz for Vega Royer-Gaspard. Their works, not yet translated in France, will thus be opened to a Francophone readership. Reactivating these texts, especially Hemphill’s—who died prematurely—allows us to test their resonance with the present conditions of marginalized groups.
Building on existing queer collective translation practices, such as Country Lesbians on invitation from Lesbian Propaganda or the work of the publishing house Brook founded by Rosanna Puyol Boralevi and Jessica Bambal Akan, the workshop unfolds in two parts. A first moment of group translation based on a selected corpus opens a space for discussion and experimentation. It is followed by a writing phase, individual or collective, informed by the forms and processes observed. The session concludes with a reading and discussion, with the possibility of assembling the texts into a collective, polyphonic publication.
Free upon registration at: dykefag4fagdyke@gmail.com
Lou Rappeneau
Lou Rappeneau writes and edits texts, translations, and poetry in small print runs alongside her artistic practice. Lever mon front de mon pupitre (2023), Portant mon histoire au bout des lèvres (translations of Joan Nestle, 2024), and elles, l’eau et moi (translations of Rosalind Krauss and Roni Horn, 2025) are her first publications. She was awarded the Prix de La Crypte 2023, which led to her first book, achète mon carré blanc mon repos (La Crypte, 2024).
Vega Royer-Gaspard
Writing works in Vega Royer-Gaspard’s practice as a first gesture for thinking video, as well as an element that emerges in space. Attached to a narrative and oral form, her texts rewrite found footage through voice-over. This detour operates through stories that question the digestion and reappropriation of violence during adolescence.
DykeFag4FagDyke
DykeFag 4 FagDyke is an editorial collective exploring the relations between dyke and fag cultures through writing, translation, and publishing. Founded around a self-published risograph fanzine combining photographs and letters, it is now developing an ongoing editorial project with a forthcoming publication. In parallel, the collective organises writing and translation workshops based on collective practices and shared reading. Its work seeks to bring narratives, archives, and contemporary experiences into dialogue, renewing their modes of transmission.
