Good morning, everyone. When I was first asked to do a TED Talk, I Googled to try and find out a little bit more about, you know, how it felt to be giving one. And one of the first things I read was a speaker in the States saying that she felt fine until she came onstage, and then she saw the timer ticking down.
大家早上好。 当我首次受邀 到 TED 进行一场演讲时, 我事先上谷歌搜索了一些相关信息, 关于受邀演讲有什么感受。 而我最先看到的 是一个美国的演讲者, 她说她上台之前自我感觉良好, 但是等她刚上台, 她就看见了计时器滴答作响。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
And it reminded her of a bomb. I was thinking, "That's the last thing I need."
这让她想到了定时炸弹。 我当时在想, “这可不是我想要看到的事情。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
(Applause)
(掌声)
Anyway, it's a great privilege to be here. I think it's a bit of a joke for an editor of a paper to choose a photographer to open a speaking event.
无论如何, 我对能来这里而倍感荣幸。 不过我觉得, 让一个文字编辑者来选择摄影师 到这里作演讲实在有点滑稽。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
We're not renowned for our words, and I spent the last 40 years hiding behind a camera so I didn't have to speak. But I'm here today, and what I want to talk about are stories and the importance of stories to me and, I think, the importance of stories to everybody. I'm sure today you'll hear a lot of stories and, by listening to other people's stories, I think we can learn about the world, about other people and get a better understanding. So I want to talk about three stories that I've done as a photographer, and how they've inspired me, and how, in my life, I've become a part of the stories that I document myself.
我们不会因为我们的言论而出名, 我在过去四十年当中, 一直都是隐藏在相机的后面, 所以我不用开口说话。 但是既然今天我在这里, 那么我想分享一些故事, 以及这些故事于我的重要性。 我想这些故事同样值得大家重视。 我确定今天大家会听到许多故事, 通过倾听他人故事的方式, 我相信,我们将会更好地 了解这个世界, 以及他人。 所以我想以一名摄影师 的身份讲三个故事, 以及它们是如何激励我的, 以及在我的人生中, 我是如何变成我所拍摄的故事 当中的一部分的。
As John said, I was a fashion photographer and music photographer for 10 years. I enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun, but always wanted to do something more with my work. And storytelling was always something I wanted to do. So 10 years ago, I set out to travel the world, to go and photograph other people in their situations and to record their stories, to bring them back, so that other people might understand. But this didn't happen overnight. When I worked as a music photographer and a fashion photographer, I always had this nagging feeling that there was something missing, that I wasn't quite using my skills productively. And it may seem very obvious, the link, now, but at the time, I couldn't really work out how could I use my photography to do something useful. So I gave up photography. I walked away from it completely and decided to do care work.
如约翰所说,我当了十年的摄影师 和音乐摄影师。 我十分享受工作的过程, 也从中收获了许多。 但我还是想做更多的事情。 而故事叙述就是我想做的。 十年前我开始环游世界, 去拍摄其他人的生活, 把他们的故事记录下来并带回去, 这样也许便于人们了解。 然而,这不是一蹴而就的事情。 在我当音乐摄影师 和时尚摄影师的时候, 我总是为似乎缺少了 一些灵感而感到烦躁, 从而导致我没有更好地 发挥我的才能。 而现在的一切 在当时看来已然很明显了, 但我那时并没有意识到, 如何使我的才能发挥得更有意义。 所以我辞职了, 决定要当一名护工。
As a care worker, I started looking after a young guy called Nick. Nick has autism, very severe autism. But over the years of looking after him, we became very close friends. I would give him a 24-hour care, we would go off and do things from swimming, going for walks ... all sorts. Bit by bit, though, as I got to know him better, I realized that his story wasn't being told. He self-harmed, he would punch himself quite a lot in the face. And nobody really got to see that. So this is Nick. He used to describe his life as living downstairs at a party. He said he could hear the party in the kitchen, but he felt like he was always trapped in the basement, in his own little world, wanting to be part of the party but not able to walk upstairs. So I documented his life. I started to photograph it, not really with any intention of doing anything with the pictures, but just as a way of recording.
在我当护工期间, 照顾了一个叫尼克的小孩。 尼克有自闭症,而且十分严重。 但是多年以后, 我们成为了极其亲密的朋友。 我 24 小时都照顾他, 我们一起出去游泳、散步…… 各种各样的事情。 但是渐渐地, 当我加深对他的了解, 我感觉到他有些事在瞒着我。 他有自残行为, 严重时他会多次捶打自己的脸。 但没有人看到过他这样的行为, 这就是尼克。 他曾把他的生活形容成, 住在一个派对的楼下。 他说他能听见厨房中派对的声音, 但他感到自己总是被困在地下室里, 在他自己的世界中, 他想要成为派对的一部分, 却无法走上楼梯。 所以我记录了他的生活。 我开始对他进行拍摄, 并不刻意, 也不对照片进行任何处理, 只是一种记录的方式。
And as I started doing that, I realized that I could tell somebody's story through my photographs. As I said, Nick would self-harm. He would punch himself in the face. And nobody really got to see that. As we built up a kind of closer friendship, he finally would allow me to actually see him doing this and to document it. It was a moment of trust. The social services were not particularly good at helping Nick, and they said that he wouldn't be self-harming as bad as we said.
而当我开始那样做的时候, 我意识到我可以通过我的照片 来讲述一个人的故事。 就像我说的那样,尼克会自残, 他会用拳头打自己的脸, 而没有人能真正看到。 当我们建立了更加紧密的友谊后, 他终于同意我看着他这么做, 并且记录下来。 这是信任的一刻。 社会服务并不能很好地帮助尼克, 而他们说,尼克的自残 不会有我们描述的那么严重。
So one day, I took a photograph of when he'd really been self-harming. We took that to the social services, and their reaction was immediately incredibly different, and they managed to get a lot of help. And I'm glad to say now, eight years later, I actually spoke to Nick last night, and he wanted to let me know that he was feeling a lot better, and he doesn't do the self-harming anymore. And in some small way, I hope that the photographs was a part of that process. The main thing it did is it inspired me to go out with my camera and to tell other people's stories.
所以有一天,我拍了张尼克 真正自残时的照片。 我们把它带到了社会公益服务部门, 而他们的反应顿时变得完全不同, 他们设法得到了很多帮助。 而现在,八年后,我很高兴地说, 我昨天晚上和尼克说了话, 他想让我知道,他感觉好多了, 也不再想自残了。 在某种程度上,我希望这些照片 是这个过程的一部分。 重要的是,它激励了我 带着自己的相机走出去, 讲述其他人的故事。
One of the stories I did was in Kutupalong, on the border of Burma and Bangladesh. Here, the Rohingyas refugees have been left, pretty much to rot, for over 20 years. This is a picture of the unofficial camp. At the top, you can see the official UN camp. All these huts are the unofficial camps. Literally, the raw sewage runs through the camp. The people there have been forgotten, so I thought it was important to go and document their stories. So I arranged with the village elder; the people would come along the next day, and I would take portraits of all these people and record their stories. So as the time went on, I turned up in the morning, I put a big, white sheet up, and I started to photograph these people.
我做的其中一个故事在库图巴朗, 在缅甸和孟加拉国的边境上。 在这里,罗辛亚族的难民被遗弃, 了超过二十年, 等于是让他们自生自灭, 这是非官方建立的难民营的照片。 在顶部,你能看见 联合国官方难民营。 所有这些草屋都是非官方的营地。 事实上,有未经处理的污水 流过整个营地。 那里的人们被忘却了, 所以我认为 去记录他们的故事很重要。 所以我和村中的长老进行协商; 人们会在第二天过来, 而我会拍下所有人的肖像, 并记录下他们的故事。 随着时间推移, 我在早上开工, 我挂起了一张大白布, 开始给这些人拍照。
Suddenly, though, everything got a bit out of control, and, although it was still dawn, we were filled in this small little compound we had made with literally hundreds of people turning up with ailments and diseases and just ... a hopeless situation. And that's exactly what their situation is -- helpless. A child with a tumor that nobody helped, who was slowly suffocating. I got in a bit of a panic, because these people were coming up to me, desperate, and I was trying to explain to the village elder that I was not a doctor, and I couldn't help these people. And the village elder turned to me and he said, "No, it's really important; these people know you're not a doctor, but at least somebody is now telling their story, and somebody is recording what is happening to them." And it was a good moment for me. It was a realization that maybe it was worthwhile going off and doing these things.
但是,突然间, 事情似乎变得失控了。 并且,虽然那时天还没亮, 我们就已经挤在这个 我们搭建的小小的围地里, 毫不夸张地说, 和上百个患有各种疾病的人, 大家都处在一个绝望的境地。 而那真的就是他们 所处的境况——无助。 一个无人帮助的患有肿瘤的孩子, 缓慢地,困难地呼吸着。 我感觉到了一丝恐慌, 因为这些人在靠近我, 想要抓住最后的救命稻草, 然后我尝试对村中的长老解释, 我不是一名医生, 我没办法帮助这些人。 然后长老告诉我, “不,这不重要; 这些人知道你不是一名医生, 但至少现在有人 在诉说他们的故事了, 有人正在记录着 他们身上发生的事情。” 对我来说, 这是一个美好的时刻。 我意识到,或许 值得开始做这些事。
Another story that inspired me was in Odessa, in Ukraine. I was documenting a bunch of street kids. I ended up actually living with them in a squat, which I can say was an experience. Many late nights of vodka-fueled violence with me sitting in the corner with my bag, just going, "When was this a good idea?"
另外一个启发我的故事 发生在乌克兰的敖德萨。 我当时正在记录一群街头的孩子。 实际上,我最终 和他们在一个空屋子里住下了, 这对我来说是一种经历。 很多个深夜,我用伏特加把自己灌醉, 带着我的包坐在角落里, 在想,“这算什么事儿?”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I would say it's moments like that when I think, "Why did I leave the fashion world?"
我想过很多次, 比如“为什么我要离开时尚界?”
But they were great kids, and on the last day, they took me down to the sea for a sort of trip, a sort of farewell. There they are, drinking vodka. And then Serge, who was the oldest and the most violent -- he'd just got out of the prison for stabbing somebody -- comes and puts his arm around me and says, "We go swimming." Now, I have to say, I had a "Lonely Planet" guide to Ukraine and in it, it gave some advice. And in that advice was, "Do not talk to the street kids, at no point leave your baggage unattended and in all counts, do not go swimming."
但他们是好孩子, 在最后一天, 他们带我去了海边, 他们把这当作一次短暂的告别旅行。 图片中是他们在喝伏特加, 然后瑟奇, 那个最年长也最暴力的孩子—— ——他刚刚被释放, 因为刺伤别人进的监狱—— 他走过来,用手圈住我的肩膀, 说着,“去游泳吧。” 现在我必须承认,我当时有本 去乌克兰的《孤独星球》指南, 在里边, 它给了我一些建议。 其中有一条是, “别和街头的孩子说话, 绝对不要让你的行李无人照看, 并且无论如何,不要去游泳。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So I was like, "I don't know if this is a good idea." Serge has got his arm around me. I'm like, "OK." So there I am.
所以我当时的反应是, ”我不知道这是不是个好点子。“ 瑟奇正把胳膊这样搭在我的肩膀上。 我说,“好吧”,然后我就去了。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I literally handed all my cameras, all my equipment, to these street kids. And they took it. It's kind of funny to know, if you look in the background, you can see the other street kids who didn't get in the water go, "Why would you get in that water?"
我把所有的摄像机和设备, 都交给了这些街头的孩子, 他们接了过去。 有趣的是, 如果你看这张照片的背景, 你可以看到那些 没有下水的街头孩子,他们说, ”你们为什么要在这里游泳?“ (笑声)
But one of the little kids, Lilic, he was the one who had taken my camera, and he started taking photographs. He was really excited by this camera. And we talked a lot about how I was going to get him a camera and would return and we could start to teach him photography. He had a real eye for things. That's him, there. That was taken on the last evening I was there. I'd been staying there, but that night, I left to go and collect my things. And when I came back in the morning, he was dead. He had taken a lot of pills and a lot of vodka. And he had passed out in the night and didn’t recover. Again, it was another reminder of maybe why I should record these people's stories: because their lives are important, and it's important for me to document them.
但他们中的其中一个, 里里克, 他拿着我的摄像机, 开始照相。 把玩相机让他很兴奋。 然后我们聊了很多, 关于我打算给他弄一个相机, 关于我会回来, 然后我们会开始教他摄影。 他有一双善于观察事物的眼睛。 那就是他,在那儿。 那是在我离开前 最后一个晚上拍摄的。 我本来要呆在那里的,但是那晚, 我收拾东西离开了。 而当我第二天回来的时候,他死了。 他服用了很多药物, 又喝了很多伏特加酒, 在夜晚昏睡过去后就再也没有醒来。 这再一次提醒了我, 应该记录这些人的故事: 因为他们的人生很重要, 记录他们的人生也很重要。
Then in February of last year, when I was on patrol in Afghanistan, I stepped on an IED. That's me down there, somewhere. I became part of the story. At first, I was devastated by what had happened, obviously. I thought my work was over, I thought -- everything didn't make sense to me. And then I realized: I never set out to Congo, to Angola, to Bangladesh to take photographs. I went to those places because I wanted to make some kind of change, and photography happened to be my tool.
第二年的二月, 那时我在阿富汗巡逻, 我踩到了一个简易爆炸装置。 我就站在那里的某个地方。 我自己变成了故事的一部分。 一开始,显然, 我被发生的事情压垮了。 我想我的职业生涯结束了。 我觉得——所有事情都失去了意义。 然后我意识到, 我从来没有去过刚果, 安哥拉,孟加拉国, 拍下照片。 后来我去了这些地方, 因为我想要做一些改变, 而摄影在偶然间成为了我的依靠。
And then I became aware that my body was, in many ways, a living example of what war does to somebody. And I realized I could use my own experience, my own body, to tell that story. And it was also by looking back at the other people I've documented. I thought of Nick, and I thought of his resilience. I thought of the Rohingyas and the fact that they have no hope. I thought of Lilic and a lost life. And in fact, it was the stories that I've documented that inspired me to get through the last year, to survive, to get back up on my new legs and to be able to come and tell their stories, but also my own story.
然后我开始意识到, 我的身体在很多方面 都是一个活生生的例子, 述说了战争对人的影响。 然后我意识到, 我可以用自己的经验和身体, 来诉说这个故事。 而且也正因为回顾那些 我记录过的人们的生活, 我想到了尼克, 想到了他的顽强。 我想到了罗兴亚人, 以及他们绝望的事实。 我想到了里里克, 以及他失去的生命。 而事实上, 正是这些我记录的故事, 激励着我撑过了去年的灾难, 活下来, 依靠我的新腿自力更生, 病来来到这里说出他们的故事, 还有我自己的故事。
So I did a self-portrait, because I wanted to show everybody what a bomb does to somebody, but also to show that losing your limbs doesn't end your life; that you can have what people say is disability, but not be disabled; that you can be able to do anything if you put your mind to it and have belief in it. It's strange, but in many ways I look at where I was a year ago, and I look at where I am now, and I realize that I have a lot of things I didn't have then. I wouldn't be sitting here right now if this hadn't happened. I wouldn't have been able to show you those photographs and tell you those stories. I was lucky 10 years ago, when I sat down and I tried to work out what I could do to make a difference in this world. I realized that my photography was a tool and a way to do it.
所以我给自己拍了一幅肖像, 因为我想要向大家展示, 一个炸弹对一个人意味着什么, 以及失去四肢不会结束你们的生命; 你可以是一个别人眼中的残疾人, 但却依然有力量; 你可以做任何事情, 如果你专心去做, 并且坚信地去做。 这很奇怪, 但我从很多方面回顾一年前, 我所处的位置, 再看看我现在所在的位置, 然后我意识到,我拥有了 很多我那时没有的东西。 如果这个意外没有发生, 我将不会坐在这里, 也没有机会给你们展示这些照片, 给你们讲这些故事。 十年前我很幸运, 当我努力想要搞清楚 能够做些什么来对世界施加影响。 我意识到,摄影是一个 可以达成这个目的的工具。
I think that's what's really key. It's that we all can be part of that wheel. We can all be cogs in a wheel of change. We can all make a difference. Everybody here has an ability to use something to make a difference to the world. We can all sit in front of the TV and go, "I don't know what to do about it," and forget about it. But the reality is that we can all do something. It might be just writing a letter. It might be standing on a soapbox and talking. It might be just recording somebody's story and telling it to somebody else. But every single one of us here, if we want to make a difference, we can, an there is nothing to stop us. And we all have our own experiences that we can use as well.
我觉得这是真正的关键所在。 我们都可以成为这个车轮的一部分, 我们都可以成为 改革车轮中的一个齿轮。 我们都可以做出改变。 在座的所有人都有能力, 去用一些东西 来对这个世界做出改变。 我们都可以坐在电视前说, “我不知道要怎么做。” 然后就把它放在一边了。 但事实是, 我们都可以做点什么。 可能只是写一封信。 可能是站在街头的临时讲台上演讲, 也可能只是记录某个人的故事, 并讲给其他人听。 但对我们每个人来说, 如果我们想要做出什么改变, 没有什么能阻挡我们。 而且我们都能够运用 自己的亲身经历。
So really, that's all I wanted to talk about today. I just wanted to say that life goes on all around the world. People are going through terrible things. Everyone of us is going through our own terrible experience. But if we share those and we talk about stories, then we can inspire each other to get through our own bad experiences. I know that the people I've recorded have gotten me to this point. And I hope in some small way, the stories I've been able to tell you will help you get through things. And in turn, I hope you will use your experiences to help others.
所以这就是我今天想说的。 我想说,在这个世界上, 每个生命都在继续。 很多人生活在水深火热之中, 我们每一个人, 都在承受着自己的苦难。 但如果我们分享并讲述这些故事, 就可以激励对方, 撑过最难熬的时光。 我知道我所记录的人们激励了我。 我希望,我今天讲述的这些故事, 也能或多或少帮助你们渡过难关。 作为回报,我希望你们也能 用自己的经历来帮助别人。
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)