It's wonderful to be here to talk about my journey, to talk about the wheelchair and the freedom it has bought me.
非常高兴能在这里 谈谈我的人生旅程 谈谈轮椅 以及它给与我的自由
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.
我是从16年前开始坐上轮椅的 那时一场长期的慢性病 改变了我接触这个世界的方式 当我开始使用轮椅 我立即感受到一种全新的绝妙的自由 因为生活曾经一度离我而去,人生受到限制 那时好像拥有了一个崭新的玩具 我可以嗖嗖地快速来往,重新体验风拂在脸上的感觉 就连出门都变得如此令人高兴
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.
但即使我重获快乐与自由 人们对我的反应还是彻彻底底的改变了 他们好像看不见我了 就好像我穿上了隐身衣似的 他们似乎是通过自己的逻辑来推测我的想法, 来断言坐在轮椅中的感觉如何的。 当被问起关于“轮椅"会有怎样的联想时 人们会用到诸如”限制“,”害怕“ ”遗憾“和”约束“等词语 我意思到在潜意识里我会把他们的回答内化 因此就从根本上改变了我 我内心的一部分渐渐疏远了自己 我对自己的看法并不是来自自身所持观点 而是不断地、强烈地受到 他人给与的回应的影响
As a result, I knew I needed to make my own stories about this experience, new narratives to reclaim my identity.
正因此,我明白自己需要就这段经历 创造属于我自己的故事 一个全新的,可以改造自我意识的故事
["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"]
["寻找自由:‘通过创造属于自己的故事,我们学会认真审视自己的生命,正如我们编写官方材料一样。‘——Davis2009.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.
于是我开始着手创造 其目的在于传递 轮椅带给我的快乐和自由 有魔力的椅子--她助我玩转世界 我致力于改变那些“内化了的回应” 去改变那些当我开始使用轮椅时 曾一度塑造了我的自我意识的先入为主的观点 通过创造出人意料的画面 这轮椅成了我绘画和娱乐的用具 当我真的开始留下 我快乐和自由的痕迹的时候 人们表现出的 兴趣和惊讶非常令我激动 这似乎成了新观念的开端 这其中蕴含了思维模式的转换 我们可以看到艺术性尝试 能够重塑一个人的自我意识 通过修订熟识之事来改变先入之见
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.
于是,在2005年,我开始潜水 我意识到水肺同轮椅一样 能扩展使用者的活动自由 但不同的是,水肺带来的 是令人兴奋和冒险的联想 和人们对于轮椅的联想截然相反
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.
于是我就想,“如果把它们俩 放在一起会如何?”(笑)(掌声) 然后,水下轮椅就诞生了 在过去的这7年里 它带给我最最惊奇的水下之旅
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.
为了让你们体会这是怎样的一种感受 我将在这里和你们分享 其中一次这种奇景带来的成果 并向你们展示它带给我的是一种怎样的奇妙旅程
(Music)
(音乐)
(Applause)
(掌声)
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.
这是我最最叹服的经历 超过我所经历过的任何事情 我竟能真的如此自由自在地 360度地在空间中移动 同时享受着愉悦和自由带来的狂喜之情
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."
最难以置信的事情是 其他人似乎也有身临其境之感 他们眼中闪着光芒 并说,“我也想试试!” ”既然你可以做到,我也能做任何事情!”
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.
然后我在想,这是因为在那时 他们目睹了一件 他们从来没有见过的事 或者说,这件事超越了人们心中 关于轮椅的固有的观念 使得他们不得不采用一种崭新的思维方式 我觉得在这全新观念诞生的时刻 也许也带来了一种新的自由 这自由也在其他人的生命之中穿梭 对我而言,这意味着他们目睹了 与众不同的价值 以及它带来的快乐 当我们不在计较失去和限制时 我们就能发现这令人兴奋的新观念 拥有的力量和愉悦 对我来说,轮椅 成为了一种转化工具 实际上我现在把水下轮椅叫做 “穿越之门” 因为它的确 把我推入了一种崭新的生活 进入了一个新的维度和一个思想意识的新高度
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.
除此之外 水下轮椅对其他人而言 闻所未闻见所未见 因此创造这奇物就是在创造 新的看法,存在 和认知感 现在这一概念已经存在于你的脑海之中 你们也就都成了这艺术作品的一部分。
(Applause)
(掌声)