Along the ancient path of the Monongahela River, Braddock, Pennsylvania sits in the eastern region of Allegheny County, approximately nine miles outside of Pittsburgh.
沿著古老的莫農加希拉河河道, 位於阿勒格尼縣東部 賓夕法尼亞州的「布拉多克」, 大約就在匹茲堡 9 英里之外。
An industrial suburb, Braddock is home to Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill, the Edgar Thomson Works. Operating since 1875, it is the last functioning steel mill in the region. For 12 years, I have produced collaborative portraits, still lifes, landscapes and aerial views in order to build a visual archive to address the intersection of the steel industry, the environment, and the health care system's impact on the bodies of my family and community.
一個工業城市郊區, 布拉多克是 安德魯.卡內基的第一座鋼鐵廠─ 埃德加.湯姆森鋼鐵廠的所在地。 從 1875 年投入營運以來, 這是該地區最後一個還在運轉的鋼鐵廠。 12 年來我已經製作了 許多靜態人物協力肖像畫、 地景和空拍照; 為了要建立一個視覺資料庫 來強調鋼鐵工業、環境 與健康照護體系之間的連動, 對我的家庭和社群身上所造成的影響。
The tradition and grand narrative of Braddock is mostly comprised of stories of industrialists and trade unions. Currently, the new narrative about Braddock, a poster child for Rust Belt revitalization, is a story of urban pioneers discovering a new frontier. Mass media has omitted the fact that Braddock is predominantly black. Our existence has been co-opted, silenced and erased.
布拉多克的傳統和主要敘述, 絕大多數涵蓋了實業家與商會的故事; 目前關於布拉多克的新敘述 ─「鏽帶復甦的表率」─ 就是城鎮開拓者發掘新疆界的報導, 大眾媒體省略掉布拉多克 是以黑人為主體的事實, 我們的存在已經被冒名頂替、 消音以及抹滅了。
Fourth generation in a lineage of women, I was raised under the protection and care of Grandma Ruby, off 8th Street at 805 Washington Avenue. She worked as a manager for Goodwill. Mom was a nurse's aid. She watched the steel mills close and white flight to suburban developments. By the time my generation walked the streets, disinvestment at the local, state and federal level, eroded infrastructure, and the War on Drugs dismantled my family and community.
家裡沒出過男丁的第四代, 我在露比祖母的保護和照料下長大的, 在第 8 街和華盛頓大道 805 號旁, 她是 Goodwill 的主管, 她以前是護士助手, 她目睹了鋼廠關閉以及白人 遷出至郊區地產。 到了我們這一代走在街頭時, 地方、洲和聯邦政府的撤資 逐步毀壞硬體建設, 還有打擊毒品拆散了我的家庭和社區。
Grandma Ruby's stepfather Gramps was one of few black men to retire from Carnegie's mill with his pension. He worked in high temperatures, tearing down and rebuilding furnaces, cleaning up spilt metal and slag. The history of a place is written on the body and the landscape. Areas of heavy truck traffic, exposure to benzene and atomized metals, risk cancer and lupus. One hundred twenty-three licensed beds, 652 employees, rehabilitation programs decimated. A housing discrimination lawsuit against Allegheny County removed where the projects Talbot Towers once stood. Recent rezoning for more light industry has since appeared. Google Maps and Google Earth pixelations conceal the flammable waste being used to squeeze the Bunn family off their home and land. In 2013, I chartered a helicopter with my cameras to document this aggressive dispossession. In flight, my observation reveals thousands of plastic white bundles owned by a conservation industry that claims it's eco-friendly and recycles millions of tires to preserve people's lives and to improve people's lives.
祖母盧比的繼父古蘭斯先生 是少數從卡內基的煉鋼廠帶著 退休金退休的黑人, 他在高溫中工作、 拆除和重裝熔爐、 清除溢出的金屬和爐渣。 一個地方的歷史 就印記在人身與地景之上: 重型貨車通行的區域、 曝露於苯和汽化金屬之下 面臨癌症和狼瘡的風險。 123 個核可的床位、 652 名員工, 整復計畫大幅被刪減; 一個對阿勒格尼縣提起的住屋歧視訴訟 移除了曾經佇立 塔爾博特樓群的建案。 最近為了更多輕工業的 區域重劃自此出現, 谷歌地圖和谷歌地球的截圖隱瞞了 那些用來排擠邦恩家離開家園 和土地的可燃廢棄物。 2013 年時我租了一架直升機, 用我的相機來紀錄這些侵占式的剝奪, 在飛行中我的觀察出現了 數千個由保育產業 所擁有的白色塑膠堆, 他們宣稱那不影響生態的, 而且回收數百萬個輪胎 用來保障大家的生命, 還有改善大家的生活。
My work spirals from the micro to the macro level, excavating hidden histories. Recently, at the Seattle Art Museum, Isaac Bunn and I mounted this exhibition, and the exhibition was used as a platform to launch his voice. Through reclamation of our narrative, we will continue to fight historic erasure and socioeconomic inequality.
我的作品從微觀轉到宏觀層面, 挖掘那些被隱藏的歷史。 最近在西雅圖藝術博物館, 艾薩克.邦恩和我舉辦了這場展覽, 而這個展覽我們用來當做 為他發聲的平台, 透過重申我們的敘述, 我們將繼續為歷史的抹滅和 社會經濟不平等而戰。
Thank you.
謝謝各位!
(Applause)
(掌聲)