Wow, wow, people. You know, actually, I love people because my work is about people. It's actually about bringing people together. I'm an artist. I mean, until I found a real job, but now it looks like it's getting pretty serious.
Alal vera, ljudi. Znate, zapravo, ja volim ljude jer se moja umetnost bavi ljudima. Zapravo se radi o zbližavanju ljudi. Ja sam umetnik. Mislim, dok ne nađem pravi posao, ali sada već izgleda da postaje prilično ozbiljno.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But, you know, I also love walls. And I know that walls are supposed to divide us, but I think I've found a way to use walls to bring us together. And I've tried this in different places. This was in Israel, Palestine, 15 years ago, where, with my friend Marco, I took photos of Israeli and Palestinian doing the same job and then pasted them on Israeli city and Palestinian city, and people couldn't even recognize who is who. This was in the favelas of Brazil. Faces of women on the hills of the community.
Međutim, znate, volim i zidove. I znam da bi zidovi trebalo da nas dele, ali mislim da sam otkrio način da koristim zidove da nas zbliže. I isprobao sam to na raznim mestima. Ovo se desilo u Izraelu, Palestini, pre 15 godina, gde sam sa prijateljem Markom fotografisao Izraelce i Palestince koji obavljaju iste poslove i onda sam ih polepio po izraelskim i palestinskim gradovima, a ljudi nisu uopšte mogli da prepoznaju ko je ko. Ovo je u brazilskim favelama. Lica žena na brdima lokalnih zajednica.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Often the first target of the violence that is happening there. This is a local museum we have in Paris, it's called the Louvre. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but I thought I’d give it a shout out. And with 400 people and paper and glue, we wheat-pasted the entire plazas to make the pyramid ten times bigger. This was at the border between Mexico and US. Thank you.
Često su prve mete nasilja koje se dešava tamo. Ovo je lokalni muzej kod nas u Parizu, nosi ime Luvr. Ne znam da li ste čuli za njega, ali mislio sam da mu odam poštu. I sa 400 ljudi, papirom i lepkom od pšeničnog brašna oblepili smo čitav trg kako bi piramida izgledala deset puta viša. Ovo je na granici između Meksika i SAD-a. Hvala vam.
(Applause and cheers)
(Aplauz i klicanje)
Kikito, the little kid, is one year old, and he lives in the little house you see on the top left of the image. I just wonder, at his age, what is his perspective on the wall?
Kikito, maleni dečak, ima jednu godinu i živi u kućici koju vidite gore levo na slici. Prosto sam se zapitao, u njegovom uzrastu, kako on vidi zid?
You know, each time I do a project, I wonder: Can art change the world? And I never really know how a projects starts. Couple years ago, I was making breakfast and a friend of mine called me.
Svaki put kad radim na projektu, pitam se: može li umetnost da promeni svet? I ja nikad ne znam kako projekat počinje. Pre nekoliko godina sam spremao doručak i nazvao me je jedan prijatelj.
Friend Saul, he says, "JR, you love walls. Why don't you do a project in prison?"
Prijatelj Sol, koji kaže: „Džej-Ar, ti voliš zidove. Zašto ne odradiš projekat u zatvoru?”
I was like, you know, I was just, "Dude, you know, I would do it, but it's too much paperwork administrative, bureaucracy. Plus, I've been arrested 15 times, they don't want me in there."
Bio sam u fazonu, prosto: „Druže, znaš, uradio bih to, ali previše je papirologije, administracije, birokratije. Uz to, hapšen sam 15 puta, ne žele me tamo.”
And he was like, "I know, bro, but you love walls so much, what you would do in there. If you could do it, what could you do?"
A on je kao: „Znam, brate, ali toliko voliš zidove, šta bi uradio tamo. Kad bi mogao, šta bi uradio?”
I was like, "OK, you know what?" I had an idea. If I wanted to finish my poached eggs and my, you know, French toast before it gets cold, I had to get rid of him. So I told him, "You know what, I'll paste the entire prison."
Bio sam u fazonu: „U redu, znaš šta?” Pala mi je na pamet ideja. Ukoliko želim da dovršim poširana jaja i moj, znate, francuski tost pre nego se ohladi, morao sam da ga se rešim. Pa sam mu rekao: „Znaš šta, oblepiću čitav zatvor.”
He was like, "Wow, that's amazing." He hung up the phone, I thought I'd never hear from him for two decades.
On će: „Opa, to je sjajno.” Spustio je slušalicu, i mislio sam da se nećemo čuti bar dve decenije.
He called his friend Scott, who was like, "What's up?"
Nazvao je prijatelja Skota koji je kao: „Šta ima?”
Saul is like, “I spoke to JR, he’s down to do a project in prison.”
Sol će: „Razgovarao sam sa Džej-Arom, pristao je na zatvorski projekat.”
Scott's like, "That's amazing, let me call the governor." Hung up the phone, called the governor.
Skot će kao: „To je sjajno, sad ću da nazovem guvernera.” Spustio je slušalicu, nazvao guvernera.
Governor was like, "Who's this JR?"
Guverner je u fazonu: „Ko je taj Džej-Ar?”
"He does black and white, and, you know, he takes photos of people, he records their story ..."
„Radi crno-belom tehnikom, i, znate, fotografiše ljude, snima njihove priče...”
"I'm sorry, I've never heard of it."
„Žao mi je, nikad čuo.”
"Yes, there's very large murals."
„Da, pravi velike murale.”
And the governor was like, "Wait, wait, wait. Before I was the governor, I was in a mural. There were 1,300 people, each one of them recorded their story, and I was one of them. Is that the same artist?"
A guverner je u fazonu: „Stani, stani, stani. Pre nego što sam postao guverner, bio sam na muralu. Tu je bilo 1 300 ljudi, svačija priča je bila snimljena, a ja sam bio jedan od njih. Je li to isti umetnik?”
The guy said, "Yes, that's the same artist."
Lik je rekao: „Jeste, to je isti umetnik.”
"Give him full clearance for every prison in the state of California."
„Daj mu puni pristup svakom zatvoru u državi Kaliforniji.”
(Laughter and applause)
(Smeh i aplauz)
Calls me back. Next thing you know, I’m on Google Earth, and there's 35 prisons. I'm looking at them and I'm like, well, first of all, I'm a wallpaper man. I cannot paste if I don't have my clear surface. So that doesn't work, that doesn't work, that doesn't work. The yard is made of sand and grass. I cannot do it. I know nothing about prisons. So then I see this one and I'm like, "Wait, can we zoom in this one?" I'm like, "Oh, actually, you know what? The yard here in the center looks like it's concrete. I could work on that."
Zove me opet. I očas posla, eto me na Gugl Zemlji, a ima 35 zatvora. Gledam u njih i kao, pre svega, ja sam tapetar. Ne mogu da lepim ako nemam čistu površinu. Pa to neće ići, to neće ići, to neće ići. Dvorište je od peska i trave. Ne mogu ništa. Ne znam ništa o zatvorima. Onda ugledam ovaj i kao: „Sačekaj, možemo li da uvećamo ovaj?” U fazonu sam: „Pa, zapravo, znate šta? Dvorište ovde u centru izgleda kao da je od betona. Radio bih na tome.”
"Look, JR, that's a supermax security prison." It's called Tehachapi, it's actually in the top five of the most violent prisons.
„Vidi, Džej-Ar, to je zatvor maksimalne bezbednosti. Naziva se Tehačapi. Zapravo je u vrhu pet najnasilnijih zatvora.
I was like, "That will do it."
U fazonu sam: „To je to.”
The next day, we flew there. We arrived there, and of course, you know, it's not that easy to get there. It's like fences, electric fences, walls. And you add more walls and more people that check your IDs. I get all the way to the yard. And it looked like some army guy with bulletproof jackets and heavily armed who say, "Alright, this is going to be very simple. There's some people waiting for you in a gymnasium. We gathered some inmates. You cannot approach them, you cannot touch them. You can sit at the chair that we designed for you, and we're going to surround the area of the gymnasium."
Sledećeg dana smo odleteli tamo. Stigli smo, i naravno, znate, nije tako lako stići tamo. Tu su ograde, električne ograde, zidovi. I dodajte još zidova i ljudi koji vam proveravaju dokumenta. Stižem skroz do dvorišta. I neki lik nalik vojniku s pancirom i naoružan do zuba mi je rekao: „U redu, jednostavno je. Neki ljudi te čekaju u sali. Okupili smo neke zatvorenike. Ne možeš im prići, ne možeš ih dotaći. Možeš da sediš na stolici koju smo postavili za tebe, a mi ćemo opkoliti salu.”
That sounds fun. I enter the room, and we do this thing in France, I don't know if you have that, but you shake people's hand, you know? So I started shaking people's hands, "Hello, how are you? My name is JR. What's your name?" And go around the table, and then I sat. And I spoke with them. A lot of them have been there since they were teenagers, some of them even from the age of 13. And I've never seen anything like it. And so I told them about my art and about the idea.
Zvuči zabavno. Ulazim u salu, a u Francuskoj imamo običaj, ne znam je li i kod vas tako, ali rukujete se s ljudima, znate? Pa sam počeo da se rukujem: „Zdravo, kako si? Zovem se Džej-Ar. Kako se ti zoveš?” I napravim krug oko stola i potom sednem. I razgovarao sam s njima. A mnogi od njih su tamo još od tinejdžerskog uzrasta, neki od njih od 13. godine. Nikad nisam video nešto slično. Pa sam im ispričao o mojoj umetnosti i ideji.
And they asked me a question, they said, "But what is the purpose of your art?"
A oni su mi postavili pitanje, rekli su: „Šta je ipak svrha tvoje umetnosti?”
Well, you know, that's a good question. I don't know if I can answer before, you know, trying a project. So I explained them an idea, and I said, “Wait, before we start anything, I just want you to know, if there's anyone here in this room that by being in this project, you might offend some of your victims outside, I'm not your guy. I'm going to get too much attention for you. If I were you, don't participate in this project."
Znate, to je dobro pitanje. Ne znam mogu li da odgovorim, znate, pre nego isprobam projekat. Objasnio sam im zamisao i rekao: „Sačekajte, pre nego što uopšte počnemo, samo želim da znam da li ima neko u ovoj prostoriji ko bi učestvovanjem u ovom projektu možda uvredio neke od vaših žrtava napolju, nisam taj tip. Dobiću suviše pažnje zbog vas. Da sam na vašem mestu, ne bih učestvovao u ovom projektu.”
Six or seven guys stood up and left the room. I was like, "Alright." So we kept on going and I started photographing them. Very simple, it's just a small part of the process. I'm not really a photographer. That’s just one part that I use, and I get to meet them and talk with them. And each of them started explaining me their story, where they grew up, where they come from, how many years, some of them spent decades in this prison.
Šest ili sedam momaka je ustalo i napustilo prostoriju. Rekao sam: „U redu.” Pa smo nastavili i počeo sam da ih fotografišem. Veoma jednostavno, radi se o sićušnom delu procesa. Nisam uistinu fotograf. To je prosto jedan deo koji koristim, stignem da ih upoznam i razgovaramo. A svako od njih mi je objašnjavao svoju priču, gde su odrasli, odakle potiču, koliko godina, neki od njih su proveli decenije u ovom zatvoru.
And the thing is that, I told them, I said, "Look, this photo is nothing. I need you to go in the next room. I'm going to leave a mic there. And I want you to record your story from the beginning. I want to understand, you have to talk like, if you're throwing a bottle in the ocean, I want to understand where you come from. And then what brought you to make that crime that led you to prison. And if you changed, explain how you changed and why."
A radi se o tome da sam im rekao: „Vidite, ova fotografija je ništa. Želim da pođete u susednu prostoriju. Ostaviću mikrofon tamo. I želim da snimite svoju priču otpočetka. Želim da razumem, morate da pričate kao da bacate bocu u okean, želim da razumem odakle potičete. A onda šta vas je navelo na zločin koji vas je smestio u zatvor. A ako ste se promenili, objasnite kako i zašto ste se promenili.”
They all went, some stayed for 10 minutes, some stayed for 20, 30 minutes. Some of them were crying in that place.
Svi su otišli, neki su ostali 10 minuta, neki su ostali 20, 30 minuta. Neki su plakali unutra.
Then I went back to my studio and that's what we do. We print strips of paper like a giant puzzle, so we have to combine it together. It's all just paper and glue. And then we combine them by numbers, and then we went back there. And we started bringing everybody in the yard. And we started pasting. Everyone from every gang, every race, participated.
Potom sam se vratio u studio i to je ono što radimo. Štampamo trake papira poput džinovske slagalice, koje kombinujemo zajedno. Sve se svodi na papir i lepak. A potom ih slažemo po brojevima, pa smo se vratili u zatvor. Počeli smo da izvodimo svakoga u dvorište. I počeli smo da lepimo. Svako, iz svake bande, sve rase, svi su učestvovali.
Now, the thing is, we're still in a supermax security prison. So the guards were like, "Look, we love you with your paper and stuff, but we’re going to count everything you brought in, and we’re going to make sure you leave with everything out. So every hour we're going to stop this whole project and make sure there's not one scissors missing, one brush, one, you know, bucket, anything."
Sad, radi se o tome da smo i dalje u zatvoru maksimalne bezbednosti. Pa su stražari kao: „Vidi, volimo te sa sve papirima i time, ali prebrojaćemo sve što si uneo i postaraćemo se da izađeš napolje sa svime. Stoga ćemo na svakih sat zaustaviti čitav projekat i postarati se da nijedne makaze ne fale, nijedna četka, nijedna, znate, kofa, ništa.”
So we went through the process, and I had planned two to three days to paste the whole thing. Those guys were so motivated, that in literally two or three hours we had done it.
Pa smo prošli kroz proces, a ja sam planirao da za dva do tri dana zalepimo čitavu stvar. Momci su bili toliko motivisani da smo bukvalno za dva ili tri sata sve završili.
So I said, "Wait, stop, guys, they're going to bring you back to your cell, give me a second. I'm going to try to get some guards to paste with us."
Rekao sam: „Čekajte, stanite, momci, vratiće vas nazad u ćelije, dajte mi sekund. Pokušaću da nagovorim neke čuvare da lepe sa nama.”
And they were like, look, "We love utopianism and stuff, but that’s where it stops.”
A oni će, vidi: „Volimo utopije i to, ali tu je kraj.”
"No, just give me a second."
„Ne, dajte mi sekund.”
So I start going to the guards and I say, "Hey, do you mind participating?" Fifty "no," one guy said "yes." I say, "Cool, come with me. They're going to show you." And then another guard and another guard. And that's where the real walls were falling down, because there's no communication between those guards and the inmates.
Pa sam prilazio čuvarima i govorio: „Hej, da li želite da učestvujete?” Pedeset „ne”, jedan lik kaže „da”. Kažem, „Strava, prođi sa mnom. Pokazaće ti kako.” A zatim, još jedan čuvar, pa još jedan. I tada su stvarni zidovi počeli da padaju jer nema komunikacije između čuvara i zatvorenika.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And you know what? From the floor, it was so big we couldn't see it anyway. You had to send a drone. So remember, again, you're in a supermax security prison. It's geofencing.
I znate šta? Sa tla, bilo je toliko veliko da ga ionako nismo mogli videti. Morali ste poslati drona. Setite se, u zatvoru smo maksimalne bezbednosti. Radi se o geo-ogradi.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So we send in the drone, those guys have never seen a drone their whole life, they were more excited about the drone than the whole project. And I was so scared because I was like, "I hope we did the puzzle right. Because if not, it's going to look a bit ugly from up there." And that's what you see from up there.
Pa smo poslali drona. Ovi momci nikad pre u svom životu nisu videli drona, bili su uzbuđeniji zbog drona nego čitavog projekta. A ja sam bio preplašen jer: „Nadam se da smo dobro uradili slagalicu. Ukoliko nismo, izgledaće malčice ružno odozgo.” A ovo vidite odozgo.
(Applause and cheers)
(Aplauz i klicanje)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
The whole yard, all their faces. And when you zoom in, actually, you see the picnic table, you can still see, it looks like a hole, but it's actually an illusion. And you see the guys walking on it.
Čitavo dvorište od njihovih lica. A ako zumirate, zapravo ćete videti sto za piknik, i dalje vidite, izgleda poput rupe, ali je zapravo optička varka. I vidite momke kako šetaju po njemu.
Now, the craziest part of all of it is because of that crazy permit that I had, I literally walked in without being searched. I had my phone on me. So I started filming in there and posting it on social media. So this guy there was showing me his tattoo on day one. And then the evening, he called his family and they said, "We saw you on JR's Instagram. It's incredible, we see what you guys are doing."
Sad, najluđe od svega je da sam zbog te lude dozvole koju sam imao bukvalno mogao da ušetam a da me ne pretresaju. Sa sobom sam imao telefon. Pa sam počeo da snimam i postavljam na društvene mreže. Ovaj lik mi je prvog dana pokazao svoju tetovažu. A onda je uveče nazvao porodicu i oni su rekli: „Videli smo te na Džej-Arovom Instagramu. Neverovatno je, vidimo šta vi momci radite.”
He was so proud the next day he said, "JR, do you mind me showing my diplomas?"
Bio je toliko ponosan sutradan i rekao: „Džej-Ar, mogu li da pokažem diplome?”
They started realizing the impact of suddenly having a connection with the outside.
Počeli su da shvataju uticaj iznenadne povezanosti sa spoljašnošću.
Then this guy showed up. His name is Kevin. You know, when I saw him, I was like, "Whoa." In my life, I'll never have a second chance to ask a guy, hopefully, why he has a fucking swastika on his face.
Onda se pojavio ovaj lik. Zove se Kevin. Znate, kad sam ga ugledao, bio sam u fazonu: „Heej!” U svom životu nikad neću imati ponovo priliku da pitam lika, nadam se, zašto ima jebenu svastiku na licu.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
And so I ask him, and he was like, "Oh, this?" Almost like he forgot about it. He was like, "I did this as a gang thing when I went in prison. But now, if I could, I would remove it."
Pa sam ga upitao, a on je u fazonu: „A, ovo?” Gotovo kao da je smetnuo s uma. Kao: „To sam uradio kao nešto za bandu kad sam stigao u zatvor. Sad da mogu, uklonio bih je.”
I was like, "OK, do you mind if I take a photo and I share it?"
Rekao sam: „U redu. Mogu li da te fotografišem i podelim?”
He's like, "Yeah, sure."
On će: „Da, naravno.”
I share that photo. Now, as you can imagine, on social media, a lot of people were as shocked and offended as I was. But a lot of people were like, “That’s strange, because that doesn't connect with the beauty in his eyes and the humanity in him."
Podelio sam fotografiju. Kao što pretpostavljate, na društvenim mrežama, gomila ljudi je bila šokirana i uvređena kao i ja. Mnogi su bili pak u fazonu: „To je neobično jer se ne poklapa sa lepotom u njegovim očima i čovečnošću u njemu.”
So I went back to him and I said, "Look, Kevin, there's this thing called social media. I know you've been here too long and you don't know about this, but people are writing comments, I'm going to read them to you. And I think some of them you should answer. So we started talking, and I did many and many videos and asking him again and again, and he responded and he went deeper and deeper. And it started a chain of people who were like, "Let's get this tattoo out of his face."
Pošao sam ponovo do njega i rekao: „Pazi, Kevine, postoji nešto što se zovu društvene mreže. Znam da si predugo tu i ne znaš za to, ali ljudi pišu komentare i ja ću ti ih pročitati. I mislim da na neke treba da odgovoriš.” Počeli smo da razgovaramo, i napravio sam gomilu i gomilu snimaka i pitao ga iznova i iznova, a on je odgovarao sve podrobnije i podrobnije. I pokrenuo je lanac ljudi koji su bili kao: „Sklonimo mu tu tetovažu s lica.”
So now before we revealed the image that you saw, I didn't want to throw it to the world like that.
Sad, pre nego što smo otkrili sliku koju ste upravo videli, nisam želeo tek tako da je izbacim u svet.
For now, only the inmates and I have seen it. We started an app where you can actually go in, it's totally free, and you can go and click on any face and hear their story for as much as they want.
Zasad, jedino smo je zatvorenici i ja videli. Napravili smo aplikaciju gde možete da pođete, skroz je besplatna, i možete da kliknete na bilo koje lice i čujete njihovu priču onoliko koliko vam dozvole.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
I wonder, you know, I've seen it. I saw people telling me that they heard story, and like a podcast. But I wonder, how would they feel about it? You know, I wanted the feedback from them.
Zapitao sam se, znate, video sam. Video sam ljude kako mi govore da su čuli priču i nekakav podkast. Pitam se ipak, kako bi se oni osećali zbog toga? Znate, želeo sam njihov fidbek.
So I got a permit to go back into prison. And this time I said, let me work on some more walls, I'll find an idea. So I go back in there and I started working on the walls, but it was really, the excuse was like, I need to speak to you guys. So I said, "What happened, guys?"
Pa sam dobio dozvolu da se vratim u zatvor. Ovog puta sam rekao, radiću na još nekim zidovima, smisliću ideju. Pa sam se vratio unutra i počeo da radim na zidovima, ali zaista se radilo o izgovoru kao moramo da razgovaramo, momci. Rekao sam: „Šta se desilo, momci?”
They were like, "Well, what do you mean, what happened?"
Bili su kao: „Na šta misliš šta se desilo?”
I was like, "I was on the outside, I couldn't speak to you guys. What was the impact inside?"
Rekoh: „Bio sam napolju, nisam mogao da razgovaram s vama. Kakav je bio uticaj unutra?”
"Oh, the impact inside is pretty simple. Let me tell you for myself, I mean, my daughter never visited me in 14 years. And now she sat in her bedroom, and she listened to my audio, and now she sees me every week.” He says, "You can ask whoever you want of those guys here, and they'll tell you the same story."
„Ah, uticaj unutra je prilično prost. Na mom ličnom primeru, mislim, ćerka me nije posetila 14 godina. A sada je sedela u svojoj sobi i poslušala moj audio snimak, i sada me posećuje svake sedmice.” Rekao je: „Pitaj koga hoćeš od ovih momaka ovde, i ispričaće ti istu priču”
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And he told me another thing happened. "Is that the guards started listening to our stories. They treat us differently now."
Rekao mi je da se još nešto desilo. „Čuvari su počeli da slušaju naše priče. Sada nas drugačije tretiraju.”
Then we started seeing the walls falling down. So I left a little souvenir in the courtyard. I was like, "Let me make one more wall disappear before I go." So we pasted the mountains from behind the wall on the wall. And it's still there, actually.
Potom smo počeli da gledamo kako se zidovi ruše. Te sam ostavio maleni suvenir u dvorištu. Kao: „Hajde da još jedan zid nestane pre nego što odem.” Pa smo zalepili planine iza zida na zid. I dalje su tamo, zapravo.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
This one is still in level four, which is the supermax security prison. And they told me in winter it becomes all snowy. And so you actually don't tell the difference between the reality and the wall.
I dalje je na četvrtom nivou, a to je zatvor maksimalne bezbednosti. A rekli su mi da je tokom zime snežno. Pa se zapravo i ne vidi razlika između stvarnosti i zida.
Now, Kevin was still in prison, so I visited him again. And something had changed in him. He was already helping others, and, you know, you could tell that he almost had forgotten about his tattoo, even if it was still there, because you cannot remove tattoos in prison. So I bought him a book, and I told him, "Look, there's a swastika on the cover, I thought you would like it." And he laughed. But I said, "No, seriously, this is our friend, Art Spiegelman, who wrote it, and he told the story about his family in the Holocaust."
Sad, Kevin je i dalje bio u zatvoru, i ja sam ga ponovo posetio. A nešto se promenilo u njemu. Već je pomagao drugima i, znate, bilo vam je jasno da je skoro zaboravio na tetovažu, iako je i dalje bila tu, jer ne možete da uklanjate tetovaže u zatvoru. Pa sam mu doneo knjigu i rekao: „Vidi, svastika je na korici, pomislio sam da će ti se svideti.” A on se nasmejao. Rekao sam: „Ne, ozbiljno, naš prijatelj Art Špigelman ju je napisao i ispripovedao je o svojoj porodici u Holokaustu.”
And so that night he went and read the book. And he was really moved. He called his mom and he said, "Mom, those French people brought me this book that talks about the Holocaust."
Te noći je pročitao knjigu. I bio je istinski dirnut. Nazvao je majku i rekao: „Mama, oni Francuzi su mi doneli knjigu koja pripoveda o Holokaustu.”
And she said, "But you stupid moron. Your family was from Poland. They were hiding Jews. They died in Auschwitz because of protecting them. And you go in prison and do this on your face?" He was in shock.
A ona je rekla: „Moronu jedan. Porodica ti je iz Poljske. Skrivali su Jevreje. Umrli su u Aušvicu jer su ih štitili. A ti odeš u zatvor i napraviš to na licu?” Bio je u šoku.
Couple years later, which is a couple months ago, he came out. Like many others from the project, almost all of them got moved to a lower-security prison, and one third of them got freed because of having good grades and notes by the guards after the project. So Kevin went out, and the first thing he did was to go up that hill that he looked at for 17 years, to look down at the prison that he was staying in. And then the second thing, as I promised him, I took him to a doctor to remove his tattoo. And the session started with the laser, and it's very painful. And at the end of it, the doctor removed the laser and she told him, "Well, who's better than a Jewish doctor to remove your swastika?"
Nekoliko godina kasnije, a to je bilo pre nekoliko meseci, izašao je napolje. Poput mnogih drugih iz projekta, gotovo svi su prebačeni u zatvor niže sigurnosti, a trećina je oslobođena zbog dobrih ocena i izveštaja čuvara nakon projekta. Dakle, Kevin je izašao, i prvo što je učinio je da se popeo na to brdo koje je posmatrao 17 godina kako bi osmotrio zatvor u kom je bio. A onda druga stvar, kao što sam mu i obećao, poveo sam ga kod doktora da mu uklone tetovažu. Seansa je započeta laserom, a to je veoma bolno. I na kraju seanse, doktorka je odložila laser i rekla mu: „Ko bi ti bolje uklonio svastiku od jevrejskog doktora?”
(Laughter and applause)
(Smeh i aplauz)
And that's him now.
A to je on sada.
(Applause and cheers)
(Aplauz i klicanje)
You know, we really tried to bring him here. But his parole officer, who is actually really nice, he said "JR, you're pushing too much. He's not going to Canada. Sorry about this.” But he knows I'm here talking about it.
Znate, stvarno smo pokušali da ga dovedemo ovde. No njegov referent za uslovnu, koji je zapravo skroz fin, rekao je: „Džej-Ar, previše navaljuješ. Ne ide u Kanadu. Žao mi je zbog toga.” On pak zna da sam ovde i da govorim o ovome.
You know, I want to use art as a bridge to make people talk to each other. I'm not an activist, I'm just an artist. I don't try to tell people what to think. I just try to make them think. And I really see art, to me, it's like, it's in the process. That's what's important. And after this whole project, after everything I showed you, what shook them, what struck them the most, is that I shook their hand. So at the end, they even asked me for a hug.
Znate, želim da koristim umetnost kao most kako bi ljudi međusobno razgovarali. Nisam aktivista, samo sam umetnik. Ne pokušavam da kažem ljudima šta da misle. Prosto pokušavam da ih navedem da misle. I ja zaista vidim umetnost, za mene, nekako je u procesu. To je važno. I nakon ovog čitavog projekta, nakon svega što sam vam pokazao, ono što ih je potreslo, što ih je najviše zateklo je što sam se rukovao s njima. Pa su me na kraju čak i zamolili za zagrljaj.
Now I remember their first question, which was: What is the purpose of your art? Well, art can change things, but can it change the world? Or can it change a man? Before you answer that question, think, at some point in your life, have you changed? And if yes, if you did, why can't they?
Sećam se njihovog prvog pitanja koje je glasilo: šta je svrha tvoje umetnosti? Pa, umetnost može da promeni stvari, ali može li da promeni svet? Ili može li da promeni čoveka? Pre nego što odgovorite na to pitanje, setite se, u nekom trenutku u životu, jeste li se promenili? A ako se jeste promenili, zašto ne bi mogli i oni?
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause and cheers)
(Aplauz i ovacije)
Helen Walters: That's amazing, you're amazing. You also just got back from Ukraine, and I wanted to show us just another piece of your work.
Helen Volters: To je sjajno, ti si sjajan. Takođe si se upravo vratio iz Ukrajine i želela sam da nam pokažem još jedno tvoje delo.
JR: Oh yeah, that was in Ukraine. The biggest city in the west side of Ukraine is called Lviv. And a friend of mine took that photo at the border, he sent it to me, I printed it 150 feet long. We rolled it as a tarp, walked through the border with it. It's actually easy to go that way, you know, to enter Ukraine. So they were like, "Oh, you're going to go this way? Sure." And then we drove to, you know, I met some people on Instagram, and they came and picked me up in their car. And then we gathered hundreds of people. We wanted to show Putin's planes who they were shooting out.
Džej-Ar: O, da, to je u Ukraijini. Najveći grad na zapadu Ukrajine se zove Lavov. A moj prijatelj je napravio tu fotografiju na granici, poslao mi je, i ja sam je odštampao u veličini od oko 46 metara. Smotali smo je kao ceradu, prešli preko granice s njom. Zapravo je lako na taj način, znate, ući u Ukrajinu. U fazonu su: „O, želiš ići ovim putem? Slobodno.” I odvezli smo se, znate, upoznao sam neke ljude na Instagramu i oni su došli i pokupili me kolima. A onda smo okupili na stotine ljudi. Želeli smo da pokažemo Putinovim avionima na koga pucaju.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
That little girl is actually safe. When she got photographed, she was coming out of the country. So she’s now in Warsaw, and she’s OK. And since then, actually, we're moving this image all around Europe. So while TED was happening in the last four days, the image was in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Venice this morning. And then it will keep traveling and each time, each place, people are gathering by themselves and opening it up.
Ta devojčica je zapravo bezbedna. Kada je fotografisana, izlazila je iz države. Dakle, sad je u Varšavi i dobro je. A otad, zapravo, prenosimo ovu sliku širom Evrope. Za vreme trajanja TED-a, u protekla četiri dana, slika je bila u Berlinu, Dizeldorfu, jutros u Veneciji. A potom će nastaviti da putuje i svaki put, na svakom mestu, ljudi se spontano okupljaju i razvijaju je.
HW: That is amazing, JR, thank you.
HV: To je sjajno, Džej-Ar, hvala ti.
JR: Thank you. (Applause)
Džej-Ar: Hvala vama. (Aplauz)