SRS (Silk Road Songbook): Millie Chen and Arzu Ozkal

Spanning seven years of fieldwork, research, and collective production, SRS (Silk Road Songbook) traces a contemporary and critical passage through the historically fraught geographies of the so-called Silk Road. The project unfolds across Istanbul, Tehran, Tashkent, Bishkek, and Xi’an, where women’s voices—grounded in land, song, and community—form the structural and emotional spine of the work.

What began as an audio-video installation has evolved into a book that resists conventional editorial hierarchies and embraces a feminist practice of translation and co-authorship. Lyrics from each site are repeated in six languages, with translators’ dialogues, divergences, and negotiations openly inscribed into the text. Here, translation is not simply a tool but a stance—one that privileges plurality and discourse over singular authority.

Each song within SRS draws on local histories of resistance and creativity, sometimes invoking censored poets such as Reza Baraheni and Cho’lpon. The musical scores create atmospheres shaped by the geographical and political climates of each location. The publication weaves these strands into a layered, multilingual composition foregrounding collective memory, land-based knowledge, and sonic agency.

The book includes essays, archival materials, musical scores, and translator commentary, reflecting Minerva Projects’s mission to support works that unsettle dominant literary conventions through both form and content.

Designed by Arzu Ozkal and printed and bound by Neyenesch Printers in San Diego, California, SRS (Silk Road Songbook) was made possible through research opportunities provided by: OCAT Xi’an Contemporary Art Center; Istanbul Institute of Design – Özyeğin University; Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University; O k’inadas Artist Residency, University of British Columbia Okanagan; and International Institute for Central Asian Studies, Samarkand. This publication would not have been possible without support from: Canada Council for the Arts; Office of International Education, University at Buffalo; Ontario Arts Council; and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.