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.
当我还是个小女孩时,我就一直幻想着 有一天我能逃走。 从六岁那年起, 我藏在衣柜的背包里 一直装着些衣服 和罐头食品。 我的内心深处有着躁动与不安 惧怕自己会被生活的琐事烦事 所侵蚀吞灭 因此,我的大部分童年记忆 都和复杂的白日梦有关 幻想自己会越过边境,采寻野果, 与路上各种陌生人邂逅, 他们都过着自由的生活。
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.
岁月流去,但我童年幻想的 许多冒险历程—— 一边旅行, 一边把自己和别人的世界编织起来—— 这一切已经在我的工作中变成了现实, 因为我成了一名纪实摄影师。 但没有什么经历,比我童年的梦 更显真实 生活在美国各地的流浪汉之间,看着他们生活, 这就是流浪梦, 另一种不同的美国梦 造梦者们都是年轻的流浪汉,旅人, 旅途上搭便车的人,浪子,和无业游民。 在我们大多数人的观念中,
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.
流浪是已经消逝的一种生活。 “流浪汉”这个词映射出 一幅黑白的画面 画面里有一个饱经风霜的,脸上涂着黑炭的老男人 双腿在货车车厢外晃荡, 但这些图片都是彩色的, 它们描绘出一个周旋在这个国家 的一个群体, 生命力顽强,奔放不羁 他们能看到常人所看不到的 美国的另一面。 和以前的人一样,今天的流浪者
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.
走遍了美国大地的 铁路和柏油马路。 白天,他们跳上运货火车,伸出大拇指, 在高速路上随便找人搭便车 不管他们是货车司机还是足球妈妈(开车载孩子去踢足球并在一旁观看的妈妈们)。 晚上,他们就在星空下过夜, 和许多猫猫狗狗,还有宠物老鼠 抱在一起入眠。
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.
一些旅人去流浪是出于选择的, 他们抛弃物质主义,传统的工作, 和大学证书,以此换来冒险的希望。 其他人则是来自社会的底层, 他们从未有机会往上爬: 他们都是从监护所里逃离出来, 和从无情暴力的家庭里离家出走的青少年。
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.
当别人看待贫困 和经济萧条的事情时, 旅人们则透过了整个解放和自由的菱镜, 看到了他们自己的存在。 他们宁愿生活在无节制中, 哪怕是他们认为这是个浪费的消费时代, 也不愿依靠不真实的希望而埋头苦干, 不愿依靠传统的美国梦。 他们了解到, 在美国, 接近40%的食物最终都到了垃圾桶里 所以他们在大垃圾箱里和垃圾桶里 觅寻完好无损的食物。 他们放弃了物质享受 为的是换取时间和空间去发掘 一个创意的自我, 去想像,去阅读,去创造音乐,艺术,和写作。
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.
但这种生活的很多方面 根本谈不上田园风味。 选择了这条路 不代表他们遗弃了内心的恶魔。 吸毒是真实的,大自然的风吹雨打也是真实的, 运货火车让人伤残也让人死亡, 另外,住在街上的任何人都可以证明 有数不清的法律条例 把无家可归的生命个体视为非法的。 在这里,有谁知道 在美国的许多城市 坐在人行道已经是不合法的 裹着摊子睡是不合法的 在自己车里睡是不合法的 给陌生人提供食物也是不合法的呢? 我知道这些法律规定是因为 我目睹过朋友或其他旅者 被关进监狱,或收到传票 就因为他们“犯了这些罪”。
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.
你们或许会好奇,为什么 会有人选择这样的生活, 受制于这种有着差别待遇的法律, 吃的是垃圾堆里的食物, 睡的是天桥地下, 到处打散工。 和人们会选择流浪这条路一样, 以上问题的答案也相差无几, 但旅者们经常会用这样一个词来回应: 自由。 除非在我们生活的这个社会里 每个人在工作中都确保有尊严 这样他们才能用工作换取美好生活, 而不仅仅是为了生存而工作, 对于那些想要寻找马路 来当作一种逃脱,自由,当然,也是反抗的人来说, 他们永远有自己的原则。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)