As a little girl, I always imagined I would one day run away. From the age of six on, I kept a packed bag with some clothes and cans of food tucked away in the back of a closet. There was a deep restlessness in me, a primal fear that I would fall prey to a life of routine and boredom. And so, many of my early memories involved intricate daydreams where I would walk across borders, forage for berries, and meet all kinds of strange people living unconventional lives on the road.
Kao mala, uvijek sam zamišljala da ću jednog dana pobjeći. Od svoje šeste godine, imala sam spreman ruksak s nešto odjeće i spremljene konzerve hrane u svom ormaru. Postojao je duboki nemir u meni, iskonski strah da će me dohvatiti život rutine i dosade. I tako, mnoga moja rana sjećanja sadržavala su sanjarenja gdje bih hodala preko granica, skupljala bobice, i susretala svakakve čudne ljude koji žive svojim neuobičajenim životima na cesti.
Years have passed, but many of the adventures I fantasized about as a child -- traveling and weaving my way between worlds other than my own — have become realities through my work as a documentary photographer. But no other experience has felt as true to my childhood dreams as living amongst and documenting the lives of fellow wanderers across the United States. This is the nomadic dream, a different kind of American dream lived by young hobos, travelers, hitchhikers, vagrants and tramps.
Godine su pošle, no puno avantura o kojima sam sanjala kao dijete -- putovanje i prolazak kroz svijetove koji nisu moji — postali su stvarnost kroz moj rad kao dokumentarni fotograf. Ali nijedno iskustvo nije bilo tako blisko mojim dječjim snovima kao život među i dokumentiranje života kolega lutalica kroz cijele Sjedinjene Američke Države. Ovo je nomadski san, drugačija vrsta Američkog sna koju žive mlade skitnice, putnici, stoperi, probisvjeti i vucibatine.
In most of our minds, the vagabond is a creature from the past. The word "hobo" conjures up an old black and white image of a weathered old man covered in coal, legs dangling out of a boxcar, but these photographs are in color, and they portray a community swirling across the country, fiercely alive and creatively free, seeing sides of America that no one else gets to see.
U našim umovima, lutalica je biće iz prošlosti. Riječ "skitnica" priziva staru crno bijelu sliku starijeg čovjeka pokrivenog ugljem, dok mu noge vise iz teretnog vagona, ali ove slike su u boji, i opisuju zajednicu koja leprša zemljom, strahovito živa i kreativno slobodna, gledajući stranu Amerike koju nitko drugi ne vidi.
Like their predecessors, today's nomads travel the steel and asphalt arteries of the United States. By day, they hop freight trains, stick out their thumbs, and ride the highways with anyone from truckers to soccer moms. By night, they sleep beneath the stars, huddled together with their packs of dogs, cats and pet rats between their bodies.
Kao i njihovi prethodnici, današnji nomadi putuju čeličnim i asfaltnim arterijama Sjedinjenih Američkih Država. Po danu, skaču na teretne vagone, izbaciju palac i voze se autocestama s bilo kim od kamiondžija do kućanica. Po noći, spavaju pod zvijezdama, skupljeni skupa sa svojim čoporima pasa, mačaka i štakora ljubimaca između tijela.
Some travelers take to the road by choice, renouncing materialism, traditional jobs and university degrees in exchange for a glimmer of adventure. Others come from the underbelly of society, never given a chance to mobilize upwards: foster care dropouts, teenage runaways escaping abuse and unforgiving homes.
Neki putnici su na cesti svojim izborom, odričući se materijalizma, tradicionalnih poslova i diploma u zamjenu za nagovještaj avanture. Drugi dolaze iz podzemlja društva, nikad ne dobivši priliku da krenu prema gore: u bijegu od skrbnika, tinejdžeri koji bježe od zlostavljanja i domova koji ne opraštaju.
Where others see stories of privation and economic failure, travelers view their own existence through the prism of liberation and freedom. They'd rather live off of the excess of what they view as a wasteful consumer society than slave away at an unrealistic chance at the traditional American dream. They take advantage of the fact that in the United States, up to 40 percent of all food ends up in the garbage by scavenging for perfectly good produce in dumpsters and trash cans. They sacrifice material comforts in exchange for the space and the time to explore a creative interior, to dream, to read, to work on music, art and writing.
Gdje drugi vide priče o neimaštini i ekonomskom neuspjehu, putnici vide vlastito postojanje kroz prizmu oslobođenja i slobode. Rađe bi živjeli od viškova onoga što vide kao rastrošno društvo nego robovali nerealističnoj šansi tradicionalnog Američkog sna. Iskorištavaju činjenicu da u SAD-u, do 40 posto sve hrane završi u smeću prikupljajući savršeno dobre proizvode u kontejnerima i kantama za smeće. Žrtvuju materijalna dobra u zamjenu za prostor i vrijeme da istraže kreativnu unutrašnjost, da sanjare, čitaju, rade na glazbi, umjetnosti i pisanju.
But there are many aspects to this life that are far from idyllic. No one loses their inner demons by taking to the road. Addiction is real, the elements are real, freight trains maim and kill, and anyone who has lived on the streets can attest to the exhaustive list of laws that criminalize homeless existence. Who here knows that in many cities across the United States it is now illegal to sit on the sidewalk, to wrap oneself in a blanket, to sleep in your own car, to offer food to a stranger? I know about these laws because I've watched as friends and other travelers were hauled off to jail or received citations for committing these so-called crimes.
Ali postoji mnogo aspekata ovog života koji su daleko od idiličnih. Nitko ne gubi svoje unutarnje demone kada ode na put. Ovisnost je stvarna, elementi su stvarni, teretni vlakovi sakate i ubijaju, i bilo tko tko je živio na ulici može posvjedočiti podužoj listi zakona koja kriminalizira život kao beskućnika. Tko zna da je u mnogim gradovima u Americi sada ilegalno sjediti na pločniku, omotati se u deku, spavati u vlastitom autu, ponuditi hranu strancu? Znam za te zakone jer sam gledala kako prijatelji i drugi putnici odlaze u zatvor ili dobivaju kazne za počinjenje ovih, takozvanih, zločina.
Many of you might be wondering why anyone would choose a life like this, under the thumb of discriminatory laws, eating out of trash cans, sleeping under bridges, picking up seasonal jobs here and there. The answer to such a question is as varied as the people that take to the road, but travelers often respond with a single word: freedom. Until we live in a society where every human is assured dignity in their labor so that they can work to live well, not only work to survive, there will always be an element of those who seek the open road as a means of escape, of liberation and, of course, of rebellion.
Mnogi od vas se pitaju zašto bi itko odabrao ovakav život, pod tlakom diskriminirajućih zakona, jedući iz kanta za smeće, spavajući ispod mostova, radeći sezonske poslove tu i tamo. Odgovor na to pitanje varira kao i ljudi koji odlaze na cestu, ali putnici često odgovaraju jednom riječju: sloboda. Dok ne budemo živjeli u društvu gdje svaki čovjek ima osigurano dostojanstvo u radu kako bi mogli raditi da žive dobro, ne samo da bi radili da prežive, uvijek će postojati dio onih koji će tražiti otvorenu cestu kao bijeg, kao slobodu i naravno pobunu.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)