The project “Intersections & Interventions: Barwe & Klee” is not only about creating an exhibition but also setting out for an extensive research on Prabhakar Barwe, Paul Klee, their ideas and practices as well as global modernisms in general. Our research phase was kicked off by diving into translations –Barwe and Klee both not only created artworks, but also wrote biographical and reflective texts, trying to mediate and capture their ways of working artistically and seeing the world. In collaboration with Diamantenschliff, we translated selected chapters of Barwe’s book “Kora Canvas” into German, and selected texts by Klee into Marathi – for the first time in history! With the aim to offer deeper knowledge exchange with cultural interaction. Framed by introductory texts to the artists and their writing practice, you can find these translations here!
Collaborating with Diamantenschliff - the online translation academy of Goethe-Institut South Asia (spearheaded by Goethe-Institut Mumbai), our objective extends beyond mere translation. Diamantenschliff is aimed at creating a stronger German translation community in South Asia to strengthen professional connections between translators, create mentorship programmes, as well as support their work. Target languages include Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Sinhalese.
Milind Brahme studied German at Fergusson College, Pune and at the Centre of German Studies, JNU, New Delhi, where he completed his PhD in 1997 under the guidance of Prof Dr Rajendra Dengle. Titled Wandern ohne Ankunft, his doctoral thesis was a comparative study of the literary work of the Marathi writer G A Kulkarni and Franz Kafka.
Milind has taught German language and literature at DU, JNU, and is currently Associate Professor for German at IIT Madras. He has worked as a professional translator-interpreter and has been part of literary translation projects – which he enjoys the most.
He has been associated with the Goethe Society of India since its inception, serving as joint secretary between 2004 and 2010, and helping with the production of the Society’s Yearbook. He edited the 2007 volume of the Goethe Society’s Yearbook titled Translation as Cultural Praxis.
Milind has been a recipient of numerous scholarships, notable in this context being one from the Goethe Institut Pune in 1986 which took him to Germany for a Sommerkurs, and in fact triggered the interest in studying Germanistik.
His interest in questions of pedagogy and education has led to successful and continuing research initiatives in cooperation with the Institut für Sonderpädagogik of the University of Würzburg in the areas of Multi Grade Multi Level Pedagogy and Inclusive Education.
He was recently appointed DAAD Research Ambassador for South Asia for the Humanities and Social Sciences for the period 2022-2025.
Photo: Goethe-Institut Korea/OZAK
Jayashree Hari Joshi studied German at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and taught German after receiving her MA.
She has been working at the Goethe Institute since 1996, was a program officer for twenty years, and since 2016 has been the director of the institute's library in Mumbai. In her doctoral dissertation she compared the alienation effect in epic theatre and in the Rasa theory of ancient Indian dramaturgy.
In addition to the Indian languages Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit, she is fluent in English and German. She has translated German poems and plays into Hindi, Marathi and English. She also writes poetry in Marathi, which is regularly published. She has translated plays, poems, short stories novels and children's and youth literature from English and German into Hindi and Marathi. Her book reviews and essays on literary topics appear regularly in printed or digital form in various national newspapers and magazines. Jayashree Joshi lives in Mumbai.
