LETHOKUHLE MSIMANG, VERONIKA YADUKHA
RANTAU is a collaborative exhibit that uses transmedial translation to connect the written and visual arts. Featuring pottery and poetry, it delves into themes of migration, liminality, and the fluidity of identity.
The project takes its name from the Malay word rantau, meaning “to be in-between” or “to wander away from home.” It captures the shared yet distinct experiences of Veronika Yadukha, a displaced Ukrainian transmedial translator, and Lethokuhle Msimang, a South African poet, both navigating new identities in the U.S. Through their mediums, they interrogate how colonialism and displacement shape personal and collective identity.
The exhibit is a dialogue between word and form. Lethokuhle’s poetry reflects bodily fragility and unacknowledged vulnerability; Veronika’s ceramics physically embody these ideas, shaped by the tension and memory of clay. The visible folds and ruptures of each vessel mirror the traces left by lived experience.
A central piece of the exhibition features the Zee font, a typographic creation by Tendai Msimang, used to visually reimagine the poem To Hug a Maple Tree. The poem is printed on cloth and accompanied by a second piece, also written in Zee, which is translated into Ukrainian and English—creating a reimagined Rosetta Stone. This structure elevates Zee as a symbolic language, evoking erased histories and allowing for layered interpretation. The project reflects on language loss, cultural erasure, and the imaginative space that emerges in their absence.
The project is implemented as part of a Special Program by the TRANSLATORIUM Literary and Translation Festival.
Special thanks to the Digital Humanities and Social Engagement Cluster, Digital Ethnic Futures Lab, Department of Film and Media Studies at Dartmouth College, and AVA Gallery and Art Center.
Lethokuhle Msimang is a poet and writer from Durban, South Africa. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Rhodes University and an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College. Her work has appeared in New Coin, Hanging Loose, Il Tolomeo, and more. Her debut novella The Frightened was published by Karavan Press. She currently works as a researcher at Dartmouth College.
Veronika Yadukha is a transmedial translator, ceramic artist, and curator from Ukraine. She holds an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth and is a board member of TRANSLATORIUM, a co-founder of its festival, and a member of the VERBatsiya translation group. Her work centers on intersemiotic translation—transposing literature into ceramics, music, theater, and murals.