Translating Place features work created by Gregory during her three month residency in Sri Lanka in 2004. It also includes Narratives of Place an insightful and perceptive essay by Rohini Malik Okon that provides an overview of Joy’s time and art projects throughout her residency.

All the photographs are published for the first time and include traditional portraits of the staff Gregory lived with during her stay. These images embrace the ‘tension’ between herself, the outsider, and the moment the gardeners, the cook and their relatives all posed for the camera, presenting a loving sense of empowerment. Native flora and fauna have also been reproduced as delicate, two dimensional objects: while dark and atmospheric photographs of rooms act as a metaphor for Gregory’s state of mind.

Edited by Anne McNeill.

The book includes some of the photographs shown in the exhibition Lost Languages and other voices showing at Impressions in 2011.