‘Transliteral’ explores modes of information transmission and meaning-making, drawing on Wu’s complex relationship with her heritage language (Mandarin Chinese). The videos in the exhibition are united by a singular methodology: the act of ‘transliterating’ metaphoric, abstracted elements of Chinese language into concrete interventions, almost childlike in their simplicity. For example, 吃土 (chī tǔ) is a colloquial Chinese expression meaning ‘to be poor’, but its literal translation is ‘eating dirt’. As a result, ‘Transliteral’ presents a comically straightforward performance of the artist eating a handful of dirt. Wu enacts naïve transliterations of the elusive parts of language and culture as she reflects on the complexity of communication between immigrants and their children, often complicated by cultural and linguistic barriers. ‘Transliteral’ acknowledges that although information can be dispatched, its intended meaning is not always successfully transmitted. Even so, there is an enduring desire to connect and communicate, and find other channels through which knowledge is shared.