So 24 years ago, I was brought to The New Yorker as art editor to rejuvenate what had by then become a somewhat staid institution and to bring in new artists and to try to bring the magazine from its ivory tower into engaging with its time. And it was just the right thing for me to do because I've always been captivated by how an image can -- a simple drawing -- can cut through the torrent of images that we see every single day. How it can capture a moment, how it can crystallize a social trend or a complex event in a way that a lot of words wouldn't be able to do -- and reduce it to its essence and turn it into a cartoon.
Dakle, pre 24 godine, "Njujorker" me je zaposlio kao umetničku direktorku da bih podmladila nešto što je do tad postalo unekoliko uštogljena institucija i kako bih dovela umetnike i pokušala da spustim časopis s njegovog visokog postolja da bi se bavio svojim vremenom. I to je bio pravi posao za mene jer sam oduvek bila opčinjena time koliko slika može - jednostavan crtež - može da napravi presek bujice prizora koje svakodnevno gledamo. Kako može da uhvati trenutak, kako može da kristališe društveni trend ili složen događaj kako mnogo reči ne bi moglo - i da ga svede na njegovu suštinu i pretvori u karikaturu.
So I went to the library and I looked at the first cover drawn by Rea Irvin in 1925 -- a dandy looking at a butterfly through his monocle, and we call it Eustace Tilley. And I realized that as the magazine had become known for its in-depth research and long reports, some of the humor had gotten lost along the way, because now often Eustace Tilley was seen as a haughty dandy, but in fact, in 1925, when Rea Irvin first drew this image, he did it as part of a humor magazine to amuse the youth of the era, which was the flappers of the roaring twenties. And in the library, I found the images that really captured the zeitgeist of the Great Depression. And it showed us not just how people dressed or what their cars looked like, but also what made them laugh, what their prejudices were. And you really got a sense of what it felt like to be alive in the '30s.
Pa sam otišla u biblioteku i videla sam prvu naslovnu stranu koju je nacrtao Ri Irvin 1925 - kicoša koji posmatra leptira kroz svoj monokl, a nazivamo ga Justasom Tilijem. Shvatila sam da kako je časopis postajao čuven po svom opsežnom istraživanju i dugim reportažama, usput je izgubio nešto svog humora jer je Justas Tili sve češće viđen kao nadmeni kicoš, ali zapravo, godine 1925, kada je Ri Irvin prvi put nacrtao ovu sliku, namenio ju je bio humorističnom odeljku časopisa kako bi zabavio mlade iz tog doba, a to su bile šiparice iz burnih '20-ih. A u biblioteci, pronašla sam slike koje su zaista hvatale duh vremena Velike depresije. A to nam je pokazivalo, ne samo kako su se ljudi odevali ili kako su im izgledala auta, već i šta ih je zasmejavalo, koje su im bile predrasude. I zaista ste imali utisak kakav je bio osećaj živeti '30-ih.
So I called on contemporary artists, such as Adrian Tomine here. I often call on narrative artists -- cartoonists, children's book authors -- and I give them themes such as, you know, what it's like to be in the subway, or Valentine's Day, and they send me sketches. And once the sketches are approved by the editor, David Remnick, it's a go. And I love the way those images are actually not telling you what to think. But they do make you think, because the artist is actually -- it's almost a puzzle; the artist is drawing the dots, and you, the reader, have to complete the picture. So to get this image on the left by Anita Kunz, or the one on right by Tomer Hanuka, you have to play spot the differences. And it is something that ... It's really exciting to see how the engagement with the reader ... how those images really capture -- play with the stereotypes. But when you get it, it rearranges the stereotypes that are in your head.
Pa sam sazvala savremene umetnike, poput prisutnog Adrijana Tomina. Često pozivam pripovedače - karikaturiste, pisce dečjih knjiga - i zadajem im teme, poput, znate, kakav je osećaj biti u podzemnoj ili Dan zaljubljenih i oni mi šalju skice. I čim urednik odobri skice, urednik je Dejvid Remnik, to je to. I sviđa mi se način na koji vam ti prizori zapravo ne govore šta da mislite. Ali vas teraju na razmišljanje jer je umetnik zapravo - to skoro da je zagonetka; umetnik crta tačkice, a vi, čitaoci, morate da dovršite sliku. Kako biste shvatili ovaj prizor sleva od Anite Kunc ili ovaj zdesna od Tomera Hanuka, morate da se igrate zapažanja razlika. A to je nešto što je... Zaista je uzbudljivo videti kako komunikacija sa čitaocem... kako ti prizori zaista hvataju - poigravaju se sa stereotipima. Ali kad ih shvatite, onda vam to preuredi stereotipe koji postoje u vašoj glavi.
But the images don't just have to show people, sometimes it can be a feeling. Right after September 11, I was at a point, like everybody else, where I really didn't know how to deal with what we were going through, and I felt that no image could capture this moment, and I wanted to just do a black cover, like no cover. And I talked to my husband, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, and mentioned to him that I was going to propose that, and he said, "Oh, if you're going to do a black cover, then why don't you do the silhouette of the Twin Towers, black on black?" And I sat down to draw this, and as soon as I saw it, a shiver ran down my spine and I realized that in this refusal to make an image, we had found a way to capture loss and mourning and absence. And it's been a profound thing that I learned in the process -- that sometimes some of the images that say the most do it with the most spare means. And a simple image can speak volumes.
Ali nisu samo prizori ti koji moraju da pružaju uvid ljudima, ponekad može da se radi o osećaju. Odmah nakon 11. septembra, bila sam u tački, kao i svi drugi, gde zaista nisam znala kako da se izborim s onim kroz šta smo prolazili i osećala sam da nijedan prizor ne može da uhvati taj trenutak, te sam želela da uradimo prosto crnu naslovnicu, kao da nema naslovne strane. I razgovarala sam sa mužem, karikaturistom Artom Spigelmanom, i pomenula sam mu da ću to da predložim, a on mi je rekao: "Oh, ako ćeš da uradiš crnu naslovnicu, zašto onda ne bi išla sa siluetom Kula bliznakinja, crno na crno?" I sela sam da to nacrtam, i čim sam to ugledala, trnci su mi prošli kičmom i shvatila sam da u ovom odbijanju da nacrtam prizor, pronašli smo način da uhvatimo gubitak i tugu i odsutnost. I tokom ovoga sam naučila nešto istinski duboko - da ponekad neki prizori koji najviše govore rade to s najmanje sredstava. A prost prizor može mnogo toga da kaže.
So this is the image that we published by Bob Staake right after the election of Barack Obama, and captured a historic moment. But we can't really plan for this, because in order to do this, we have to let the artist experience the emotions that we all feel when that is happening. So back in November 2016, during the election last year, the only image that we could publish was this, which was on the stand on the week that everybody voted.
Dakle, ovo je prizor od Boba Staka koji smo objavili odmah nakon izbora Baraka Obame, i uhvatio je istorijski momenat. Ali ne možemo da planiramo jer kako bismo to postigli, moramo da dozvolimo umetniku da doživi emocije koje svi mi osećamo kada se to dešavalo. Dakle, u novembru 2016, tokom prošlogodišnjih izbora, jedini prizor koji smo mogli da objavimo je bio ovaj, koji se pojavio na štandovima u nedelji kad su svi glasali.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Because we knew somebody would feel this --
Jer smo znali da će se neko ovako osećati -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
when the result of the election was announced. And when we found out the result, we really were at a loss, and this is the image that was sent by Bob Staake again, and that really hit a chord. And again, we can't really figure out what's going to come next, but here it felt like we didn't know how to move forward, but we did move forward, and this is the image that we published after Donald Trump's election and at the time of the Women's March all over the US.
kada objave rezultate izbora. A kada smo saznali rezultate, zaista smo bili zatečeni, i ovo je prizor koji je posalao Bob Stak, opet, i zaista je pogađao u centar. I opet, zaista ne možemo da znamo šta će sledeće da se desi, no ovde smo se osećali kao da ne znamo kako da idemo dalje, ali smo išli dalje, i ovo je prizor koji smo objavili nakon izbora Donalda Trampa i za vreme Marša žena širom SAD-a.
So over those 24 years, I have seen over 1,000 images come to life week after week, and I'm often asked which one is my favorite, but I can't pick one because what I'm most proud of is how different every image is, one from the other. And that's due to the talent and the diversity of all of the artists that contribute.
Dakle, tokom ove 24 godine, videla sam preko 1000 prizora kako oživljavaju iz nedelje u nedelju, i često me pitaju koji mi je omiljeni, ali ne mogu da odaberem jedan jer sam najponosnija na to koliko je svaki prizor različit od drugih. A to je zbog talenta i raznolikosti svih umetnika koji prave doprinos.
And now, well, now, we're owned by Russia, so --
I sad, pa, sad smo pod Rusima, pa -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
In a rendering by Barry Blitt here, Eustace has become Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley. And the butterfly is none other than a flabbergasted Donald Trump flapping his wings, trying to figure out how to control the butterfly effect, and the famed logo that was drawn by Rae Irvin in 1925 is now in Cyrillic.
U ovom prikazu Berija Blita Justas je postao Justas Vladimirovič Tili. A leptir nije niko drugi do zapanjeni Donald Tramp, koji maše svojim krilima, pokušavajući da shvati kako da upravlja efektom leptira, a čuveni logo koji je nacrtao Ri Irvin 1925. je sad na ćirilici.
So, what makes me really excited about this moment is the way that ... You know, free press is essential to our democracy. And we can see from the sublime to the ridiculous that artists can capture what is going on in a way that an artist armed with just India ink and watercolor can capture and enter into the cultural dialogue. It puts those artists at the center of that culture, and that's exactly where I think they should be. Because the main thing we need right now is a good cartoon.
Dakle, kod ovog trenutka mi je uzbudljiv način na koji... Znate, slobodna štampa je od ključnog značaja za našu demokratiju. A vidimo to od uzvišenog do smešnog, kako umetnici mogu da uhvate šta se dešava na način na koji umetnik naoružan samo mastilom i vodenim bojama, može da uhvati i uđe u kulturološki dijalog. To stavlja date umetnike u središte određene kulture, a upravo to je mesto gde ja mislim da trebaju da budu. Jer nam je u ovom trenutku najpotrebnija dobra karikatura.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)