Andy and Julia in Rusyn: Warhol’s translation of his mother in film and video

Abstract

Andy Warhol’s first language was Rusyn, an East Slavic language related to, but distinct from, Russian and Ukrainian. His mother, Julia Warhola, spoke Rusyn with Andy all her life. Warhol taped her Rusyn-language discourse and oral narratives in three unreleased Factory Diary videos, which provide insight into Julia’s personality, Warhol’s biography, and the mother-son relationship. Warhol’s film from 1966, The George Hamilton Story, popularly known as ‘Mrs. Warhol’, featured his mother speaking heavily accented English, which Warhol exploited for cinematic comedy. Viewers familiar with Julia’s speech style and the Carpatho-Rusyn context discern a serious effort at communication on her part, which is thwarted by Warhol’s defamiliarization, resulting in what Warhol called creative ‘transmutation’.