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.
還是小女孩的時候, 我常想像有一天我會遠走高飛。 從六歲開始, 我就準備好背包, 裡面裝了幾件衣服和一些食物罐頭, 放在櫃子後面。 我心底有一股強烈的不安, 一種原始的恐懼, 害怕自己落入枯燥乏味的平淡生活。 因此,我早期的記憶 都和錯綜複雜的白日夢有關, 我會想像自己穿越邊界、搜尋莓果, 遇見各式各樣的陌生人, 他們都在旅途中過著不尋常的生活。
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.
幾年過後, 我小時候幻想的許多冒險── 一邊旅行,一邊編織 漫遊異國世界的路途── 已透過紀實攝影師這份職業實現了。 但是沒有任何經歷 讓我感到如童年時的白日夢般如此真實, 即使是在我穿梭於美國各地浪人夥伴, 並記錄他們的生活之際。 這是流浪的夢想, 另一種版本的美國夢, 生活就依靠著年少遊民、旅人, 以及搭便車、流浪與漂泊的人們。
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.
我們大多數人都認為 流浪是來自過往時光的產物。 「遊民」這個字召喚了一種古老的 黑白畫面, 一位煤碳覆蓋、歷經風霜的老人, 雙腳在貨車外頭擺盪著, 但這些照片都是彩色的, 描繪出跨越全國各地的 一個生氣蓬勃、無拘無束的社群, 他們看見不同面向的美國, 而那是一種 未經世人見過的模樣。 就像他們的先民,當代的遊牧民族
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.
逐著美國境內的鋼筋與柏油幹道而居。 白天,他們跳上貨運列車、伸出拇指, 跟著任何人踏上公路, 不論駕駛是貨車司機還是中年婦女。 夜裡,他們睡在星空下, 相互依偎,他們的一窩貓、狗和寵物鼠 交錯在大家的身體之間。
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.
有些旅人自願趟上旅途, 拋開物質生活、正規工作和大學文憑, 就為了換取些許冒險。 其他來自社會底層的人們 從未擁有向上流動的機會: 像是寄養家庭的中輟生、 逃離虐待和無情家庭的青少年。
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.
在那裡,人們看到的是貧困 和破產的故事, 旅人看待自我的存在 是透過解放與自由的棱鏡。 他們選擇遠離那種 他們視為揮霍的消費社會, 拒絕在不切實際的機會中埋頭苦幹, 做著傳統的美國夢。 他們利用一種現況, 那就是在美國 有高達 40% 的食物最終都會被丟棄, 他們翻找垃圾車和垃圾桶裡 完好無缺的食物。 他們犧牲物質上的安逸, 為了換取時間與空間 去挖掘富有創造力的心靈, 去夢想、去閱讀, 沉浸在音樂、藝術與寫作之中。
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.
但是仍有許多面向 離恬靜宜人的生活十分遙遠。 沒有人因為上路 就能甩開心底的惡魔。 耽溺是真的,環境惡劣是真的, 貨運列車傷人且致命, 任何生活在街上的人都能證明 法律詳盡地 宣判無家可歸是種犯罪行為。 在場有誰知道, 在美國的許多城市裡, 當代有些事違反法令, 像是坐在人行道上、 把自己裹在毯子中、 睡在你個人的車子裡, 或是給陌生人食物? 我知道這些法律是因為我目睹了 朋友和其他旅人 被拖進牢裡, 或收到所謂犯罪的證明文件。
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.
在座許多人也許會疑惑, 為什麼有人會選擇像這樣的生活, 受控於差別待遇的法律、 吃垃圾桶裡的食物、 睡在橋下、 選擇各地的短期工作。 這個問題的答案 就如同上路的人們一樣不盡相同, 但是旅人通常只會回答一個詞: 自由。 直到我們居住在 一種人人的勞動都保有尊嚴的社會, 他們能靠工作讓生活過得更好, 不只是為了存活而工作, 屆時,永遠都會有一群人 將追尋開闊的道路 做為一種逃離、解放, 當然,還有反抗的方式。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)