PhD Candidate in Translation Studies, Department of English Translation Studies, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
Artwork titles constitute an important part of the meaning-making process in visual art, as they interact with the image and may shape viewers’ interpretation of an artwork. Despite their significance, the translation of artwork titles, particularly in gallery and exhibition contexts, has received relatively limited attention. This study investigates the translation of Persian artwork titles into English, focusing on the strategies employed and the ways in which titles are represented in the target language. Drawing on Boyko’s (2011) framework for translating titles in art discourse, the study adopts a qualitative descriptive approach to examine bilingual artwork titles presented in an exhibition brochure published by O’Gallery in Tehran. A total of 38 titles were analyzed and classified according to the strategies proposed by Boyko (2011). Cases that did not correspond to any of the strategies were additionally classified. The findings show that semantic translation was the predominant strategy, accounting for 26 cases (68.42%), followed by transcription with 5 cases (13.16%). Translation by convention/tradition occurred in only 1 case (2.63%), while no instances of reproduction in the original spelling were identified. The findings suggest that although semantic transfer constitutes the dominant pattern in the dataset, artwork-title translation cannot always be explained through conventional strategies. The study therefore highlights the need to consider the linguistic, interpretive, cultural, and visual dimensions of artwork titles in translation.
Azad, P. (2026). Translating Artwork Titles: A Study of Persian–English Bilingual Titles in an Iranian Painting Gallery Brochure. Translation and Interpreting Research, 3(11), 27-41. https://doi.org/10.22054/tir.2026.96037.1090
MLA
Azad, P. "Translating Artwork Titles: A Study of Persian–English Bilingual Titles in an Iranian Painting Gallery Brochure", Translation and Interpreting Research, 3, 11, 2026, 27-41. doi: 10.22054/tir.2026.96037.1090
HARVARD
Azad P. (2026). 'Translating Artwork Titles: A Study of Persian–English Bilingual Titles in an Iranian Painting Gallery Brochure', Translation and Interpreting Research, 3(11), pp. 27-41. doi: 10.22054/tir.2026.96037.1090
CHICAGO
P. Azad, "Translating Artwork Titles: A Study of Persian–English Bilingual Titles in an Iranian Painting Gallery Brochure," Translation and Interpreting Research, 3 11 (2026): 27-41, doi: 10.22054/tir.2026.96037.1090
VANCOUVER
Azad P. Translating Artwork Titles: A Study of Persian–English Bilingual Titles in an Iranian Painting Gallery Brochure. TIR. 2026;3(11):27-41. doi: 10.22054/tir.2026.96037.1090