Mary Carroll Richer LaFlèche Apr 7, 2015:

swelling "swelling" is one of the synonyms found in the Thesaurus link above....to be used to translate boursuflure, have you decided yet?

kashew (asker) Apr 6, 2015:

@Nikki The quote could be the artist's words?
Here's the way it continues:
C’est un relief, une boursouflure volontaire, un « travail d’embossage » : armée de calque et d’une pointe sèche, la jeune photographe Juliette-Andrea Elie imprime sa marque sur des paysages diaphanes, empruntés au réel.
Thanks for your interest.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Apr 6, 2015:

I'm flumoxed by what the "'c'est un..." refers to, from a grammatical point of view. I read the original as a description of something observed, static, not as that of a process. That's me though and I don't have the benefit of the full text sous mes yeux!

kashew (asker) Apr 6, 2015:

Almost there!? How about;
It’s a sort of embossing process, adding relief, a deliberate/intentional blistering and scarring.
Disfigurement?! I think I'll work that in somehow.
Thanks to you all for your great input. Still time for more comments.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne Apr 6, 2015:

I think the important thing here, if the style adopted elsewhere permits, is to adopt three different terms as in the original :
"... relief... boursouflure... embossage"
Not sure you'll be able to come up with one topographical, one medical and one relating to paper.

As a starter though, it would probably help if you indicated the term used for "relief" and "embossage". "Swelling" comes to mind for "boursouflure" for example, but it seems distinctly out of place. PRobably time to run over to the virtual shelf and grab the French thesauraus...

Ok, with "boursouflure" then "enflement, oedème" I took swelling into the English synonym sausage factory and here's what it churned out:
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/swelling

Some of these may inspire you!

Howard Sugar Apr 6, 2015:

Well in English we do use "bas relief" (from French with takes the word from Basso rilievo in Italian).

Mary Carroll Richer LaFlèche Apr 6, 2015:

bousuflure hadn't heard that word in a long time...
Could you explain that she is adding a 3rd dimension to the photos?

chris collister Apr 6, 2015:

Isn't it hard to translate artspeak? Her photos are rather interesting (http://www.reseaux-artistes.fr/dossiers/juliette-andrea-elie... and the ice ones seem to have been deliberately creased in diamond patterns. Although EN is no stranger to purple prose, FR is so much better at it. I think simply "raised marks on the paper" should cover it, though in the ST you could argue that "boursouflure" and embossage are tautologous, so losing one would not necessarily compromise the meaning.

Howard Sugar Apr 6, 2015:

You might simply say something like a "raised elevation"!

Charles Davis Apr 6, 2015:

The idea could perhaps be swelling or tumescence. Very difficult without seeing the photo!

kashew (asker) Apr 6, 2015:

Another clue: the particular work is of a glacier - that's what is tricky!
Thanks in advance for your input.