It's wonderful to be here to talk about my journey, to talk about the wheelchair and the freedom it has bought me.
好高興可以响呢度 同大家分享我嘅心路歷程 同埋講下呢張輪椅帶畀我嘅自由
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.
十六年前我開始坐輪椅 一場大病令我唔可以 好似以前咁接觸世界 當我開始坐輪椅 佢帶畀我全新嘅自由 我曾經以為 病後傷殘,下半世一定唔好過 但呢張輪椅就好似一件神奇玩具 令我可以出返去吹風 而且,可以出到街真係好爽!
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.
雖然重獲自由,我真係好開心 但街外人對我嘅態度就完全唔同晒 佢哋好似當我透明 就好似我著咗件隱形斗篷咁 佢哋帶住一份成見嚟睇我 覺得我坐輪椅就一定會係點點點 當我問「一提起輪椅 你哋會諗起乜嘢?」 佢哋會話「局限」、「恐慌」 「可憐」、「無自由」 我發現我都受到呢啲成見影響 亦令我從根本對自己嘅睇法唔同咗 感覺自己有一部份唔再係自己咁 我再唔係由自己嘅觀點出發去審視自己 而係受其他人對我嘅睇法影響
As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories about this experience, new narratives to reclaim my identity.
於是我覺得咁唔掂 我要活出自己嘅故事 我要重新演繹,定義自我 [ (投影片)尋找自我: 喺活出自己嘅故事時,
["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"]
我哋學識認真看待 寫自己生命的一字一句。
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.
—— Davis 2009, TEDx 女性中發表 ] 我開始做一啲作品 旨在向大家傳遞 我坐輪椅嘅嗰份內心喜悅同自由 我叫佢做能量椅 因為可以同個世界摙過 我將我內心嘅感受盡量傳遞出嚟 透過破格嘅攝影 去改變當初我開始坐輪椅時 對自己嘅成見 張輪椅變咗一件我可以又寫又畫嘅嘢 當我開始為自己留下快樂同自由嘅印記 外界對我嘅作品有反應,令我好雀躍 呢啲作品好似打開咗新嘅視野 引領藝術轉型 藝術創作可以重塑一個人嘅自我觀感 同時改變固有睇法,改變成見
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.
當我 2005 年開始坐輪椅潛水 我發現水肺潛水裝置同輪椅 都一樣畀到你水底嘅自由 可以話水肺潛水帶畀人嘅印象 係充滿刺激同歷奇 而且同輪椅畀人嘅印象完全唔同
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.
我心諗:唔知兩件事擺埋一齊會點呢? (笑聲、掌聲) 最終我哋真係做咗部潛水輪椅 而且响過去七年 佢帶我體驗咗非一般嘅水底旅行
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.
為咗令你哋明白我講嘅經歷 我想同大家分享呢件法寶 帶畀我嘅其中一段體驗 同埋佢帶咗我去嘅世界有幾咁精彩
(Music)
(音樂)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
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.
呢個係我呢世人至今最精彩嘅體驗 以前種種都無得比 我基本上可以自由咁郁動 360 度通行無阻 體驗至高無上嘅快樂同自由
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."
至於令我喜出望外,妙不可言嘅係 其他人似乎都可以感同身受 佢哋對眼當堂發晒光 又話:「我都想要要部咁嘅嘢!」 又有話:「如果你連潛水做得到, 我冇嘢唔可以做唔到!」
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.
我覺得,因為嗰一刻 佢哋睇緊一件嘢係佢哋前所未見 或者超乎佢哋想像 打破晒佢哋對輪椅嘅觀感 以致令佢哋重新看待輪椅 我同時覺得 潛水輪椅想法出現嘅嗰一刻 將自由嘅呢一份情懷感染到其他人 呢件事話畀我哋聽 普通人都睇得到差異嘅價值 同箇中嘅快樂 當我哋唔係著眼於損傷或者局限 而係用新視野、新角度去睇 我哋就會發現力量同喜悅 輪椅係一部轉化器 我而家叫呢部潛水輪椅做「變身器」 係因為佢令我踏入全新嘅生命 揭開人生新一頁,對自我有新嘅覺悟
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.
因為之前無人見過潛水輪椅係點 所以潛水輪椅面世 象徵著新睇法、新認知 而家呢種睇法都响大家心中紮實 所以你哋都係作品嘅一部份喇!
(Applause)
(掌聲)