It's wonderful to be here to talk about my journey, to talk about the wheelchair and the freedom it has bought me.
Divno je biti ovde pričati o mom putovanju, pričati o invalidskim kolicima i slobodi koju su mi donela.
I started using a wheelchair 16 years ago when an extended illness changed the way I could access the world. When I started using the wheelchair, it was a tremendous new freedom. I'd seen my life slip away and become restricted. It was like having an enormous new toy. I could whiz around and feel the wind in my face again. Just being out on the street was exhilarating.
Invalidska kolica sam počela da koristim pre 16 godina kad je uznapredovala bolest promenila način moga pristupa svetu. Kad sam počela da koristim kolica, to je bila ogromna sloboda. Posmatrala sam svoj život kako se menja i postaje ograničen. Kao da ste dobili jednu ogromnu novu igračku. Mogla sam zujati unaokolo i opet osetiti vetar na svom licu. Uzbudljivo je bilo samo ponovo biti na ulici.
But even though I had this newfound joy and freedom, people's reaction completely changed towards me. It was as if they couldn't see me anymore, as if an invisibility cloak had descended. They seemed to see me in terms of their assumptions of what it must be like to be in a wheelchair. When I asked people their associations with the wheelchair, they used words like "limitation," "fear," "pity" and "restriction." I realized I'd internalized these responses and it had changed who I was on a core level. A part of me had become alienated from myself. I was seeing myself not from my perspective, but vividly and continuously from the perspective of other people's responses to me.
Međutim, iako sam otkrila tu novu sreću i slobodu, reakcija ljudi prema meni se u potpunosti promenila. Kao da me više nisu mogli videti, kao da me je prekrio plašt nevidljivosti. Izgleda da su me posmatrali iz ugla svojih pretpostavki kako je to kad si u kolicima. Kad sam pitala ljude na šta ih asociraju kolica upotrebili su reči "ograničenje", "strah", "sažaljenje" i "ograničenost". Shvatila sam da sam prihvatila ove odgovore i da me je to suštinski promenilo. Deo mene se otuđio. Gledala sam sebe ne iz sopstvene perspektive već slikovito i neprekidno iz prespektive reakcije drugih ljudi prema meni.
As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories about this experience, new narratives to reclaim my identity.
Kao rezultat, znala sam da moram da stvorim svoje priče o ovom iskustvu, nove priče kojima bih povratila svoj identitet.
["Finding Freedom: 'By creating our own stories we learn to take the texts of our lives as seriously as we do 'official' narratives.' — Davis 2009, TEDx Women"]
["Pronalazeći slobodu: 'Kreirajući svoje priče učimo kako da prihvatimo tekstove svojih života podjednako ozbiljno kao i 'zvanične' priče." - Dejvis 2009, TEDx Women"]
I started making work that aimed to communicate something of the joy and freedom I felt when using a wheelchair -- a power chair -- to negotiate the world. I was working to transform these internalized responses, to transform the preconceptions that had so shaped my identity when I started using a wheelchair, by creating unexpected images. The wheelchair became an object to paint and play with. When I literally started leaving traces of my joy and freedom, it was exciting to see the interested and surprised responses from people. It seemed to open up new perspectives, and therein lay the paradigm shift. It showed that an arts practice can remake one's identity and transform preconceptions by revisioning the familiar.
Počela sam sa radom čiji cilj je bio da kažem nešto o sreći i slobodi koju sam osećala koristeći kolica - električna kolica - za pregovore sa svetom. Želela sam da pretvorim ove ukorenjene reakcije, da preobrazim predrasude koje su oblikovale moj identitet kad sam počela da koristim kolica, kroz kreiranje neočekivanih prizora. Kolica su postala predmet za slikanje i igru. Kad sam doslovno počela da ostavljam tragove sreće i slobode, bilo je uzbudljivo videti zainteresovane i iznenađene reakcije ljudi. Činilo se da to stvara nove perspektive, i tu je ležao ključ promene. Pokazalo se da umetnička praksa može ponovo da stvori nečiji identitet i izmeni predrasude kroz promenu sagledavanja već poznatog.
So when I began to dive, in 2005, I realized scuba gear extends your range of activity in just the same way as a wheelchair does, but the associations attached to scuba gear are ones of excitement and adventure, completely different to people's responses to the wheelchair.
Kad sam počela da ronim 2005. godine, shvatila sam da oprema za ronjenje širi raspon aktivnosti na isti način kao što to i kolica čine ali asociacije u vezi sa opremom za ronjenje su uzbuđenje i avantura, u potpunosti različita reakcija ljudi nego na kolica.
So I thought, "I wonder what'll happen if I put the two together?" (Laughter) (Applause) And the underwater wheelchair that has resulted has taken me on the most amazing journey over the last seven years.
Pa sam pomislila: "Pitam se šta bi se desilo ako ih spojim?" (Smeh) (Aplauz) I podvodna kolica koja su proizašla iz toga, odvela su me na najuzbudljivije putovanje tokom prethodnih sedam godina.
So to give you an idea of what that's like, I'd like to share with you one of the outcomes from creating this spectacle, and show you what an amazing journey it's taken me on.
Da bih vam to dočarala, želela bih da podelim sa vama jedan od rezultata kreiranja ovog spektakla i pokažem vam na kakvo me je neverovatno putovanje to povelo.
(Music)
(Muzika)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
It is the most amazing experience, beyond most other things I've experienced in life. I literally have the freedom to move in 360 degrees of space and an ecstatic experience of joy and freedom.
Ovo je krajnje uzbudljivo iskustvo, prevazilazi većinu stvari koje sam iskusila u životu. Doslovno imam slobodu kretanja od 360 stepeni i zanosno iskustvo sreće i slobode.
And the incredibly unexpected thing is that other people seem to see and feel that too. Their eyes literally light up, and they say things like, "I want one of those," or, "If you can do that, I can do anything."
I krajnje neočekivana stvar je da i drugi ljudi vide i osećaju to. Njihove oči bukvalno sjaje i govore stvari kao: "I ja želim jedna," ili, "ako ti možeš to da uraditš, ja mogu bilo šta."
And I'm thinking, it's because in that moment of them seeing an object they have no frame of reference for, or so transcends the frames of reference they have with the wheelchair, they have to think in a completely new way. And I think that moment of completely new thought perhaps creates a freedom that spreads to the rest of other people's lives. For me, this means that they're seeing the value of difference, the joy it brings when instead of focusing on loss or limitation, we see and discover the power and joy of seeing the world from exciting new perspectives. For me, the wheelchair becomes a vehicle for transformation. In fact, I now call the underwater wheelchair "Portal," because it's literally pushed me through into a new way of being, into new dimensions and into a new level of consciousness.
I razmišljam, to je zato što u tom trenutku u kome vide objekat za koji nemaju referentni okvir ili upravo time prevazilazi okvire poimanja koje imaju vezano za kolica, moraju da razmišljaju na potpuno novi način. I smatram da taj trenutak potpuno nove misli možda stvara slobodu koja se širi na ostatak života. Za mene znači da vide vrednost različitosti, sreću koju donosi kada umesto fokusiranja na gubitak i ograničenost, vidimo i otkrivamo snagu i sreću gledajući svet iz uzbudljive nove perspektive. Za mene, kolica postaju vozilo transformacije. U stvari, podvodna kolica sad nazivam "Portal" jer su me bukvalno uvela u novi način postojanja, u nove dimenzije i novi nivo svesti.
And the other thing is, that because nobody's seen or heard of an underwater wheelchair before, and creating this spectacle is about creating new ways of seeing, being and knowing, now you have this concept in your mind. You're all part of the artwork too.
Druga stvar je, pošto niko nije video niti čuo za podvodna kolica pre, a kreiranje ovog spektakla je zapravo kreiranje novih načina sagledavanja stvari, postojanja i saznanja, sad i vi imate ovaj koncept u glavi, Svi ste vi takođe deo umetničkog dela.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)