Taryn Simon: The stories behind the bloodlines

54,635 views ・ 2012-04-18

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:16
This is Shivdutt Yadav,
0
16260
2000
00:18
and he's from Uttar Pradesh, India.
1
18260
3000
00:21
Now Shivdutt was visiting the local land registry office
2
21260
3000
00:24
in Uttar Pradesh,
3
24260
2000
00:26
and he discovered
4
26260
2000
00:28
that official records were listing him as dead.
5
28260
2000
00:30
His land was no longer registered
6
30260
2000
00:32
in his name.
7
32260
2000
00:34
His brothers, Chandrabhan and Phoolchand,
8
34260
3000
00:37
were also listed as dead.
9
37260
2000
00:39
Family members had bribed officials
10
39260
2000
00:41
to interrupt the hereditary transfer of land
11
41260
3000
00:44
by having the brothers declared dead,
12
44260
2000
00:46
allowing them to inherit
13
46260
2000
00:48
their father's share of the ancestral farmland.
14
48260
3000
00:51
Because of this, all three brothers and their families
15
51260
3000
00:54
had to vacate their home.
16
54260
3000
00:57
According to the Yadav family,
17
57260
2000
00:59
the local court has been scheduling a case review
18
59260
2000
01:01
since 2001,
19
61260
2000
01:03
but a judge has never appeared.
20
63260
3000
01:06
There are several instances in Uttar Pradesh
21
66260
2000
01:08
of people dying
22
68260
2000
01:10
before their case is given a proper review.
23
70260
3000
01:13
Shivdutt's father's death and a want for his property
24
73260
3000
01:16
led to this corruption.
25
76260
3000
01:19
He was laid to rest in the Ganges River,
26
79260
2000
01:21
where the dead are cremated along the banks of the river
27
81260
2000
01:23
or tied to heavy stones and sunk in the water.
28
83260
4000
01:27
Photographing these brothers
29
87260
2000
01:29
was a disorienting exchange
30
89260
2000
01:31
because on paper they don't exist,
31
91260
2000
01:33
and a photograph is so often used as an evidence of life.
32
93260
3000
01:36
Yet, these men remain dead.
33
96260
3000
01:39
This quandary led to the title of the project,
34
99260
2000
01:41
which considers in many ways
35
101260
3000
01:44
that we are all the living dead
36
104260
2000
01:46
and that we in some ways represent
37
106260
2000
01:48
ghosts of the past and the future.
38
108260
3000
01:53
So this story is the first of 18 chapters
39
113260
2000
01:55
in my new body of work titled "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters."
40
115260
5000
02:00
And for this work,
41
120260
2000
02:02
I traveled around the world over a four-year period
42
122260
2000
02:04
researching and recording bloodlines
43
124260
2000
02:06
and their related stories.
44
126260
3000
02:09
I was interested in ideas surrounding fate
45
129260
3000
02:12
and whether our fate is determined
46
132260
2000
02:14
by blood, chance or circumstance.
47
134260
3000
02:19
The subjects I documented
48
139260
2000
02:21
ranged from feuding families in Brazil
49
141260
2000
02:23
to victims of genocide in Bosnia
50
143260
2000
02:25
to the first woman to hijack an airplane
51
145260
2000
02:27
and the living dead in India.
52
147260
3000
02:30
In each chapter, you can see the external forces
53
150260
3000
02:33
of governance, power and territory or religion
54
153260
3000
02:36
colliding with the internal forces
55
156260
2000
02:38
of psychological and physical inheritance.
56
158260
4000
02:42
Each work that I make
57
162260
2000
02:44
is comprised of three segments.
58
164260
2000
02:46
On the left are one or more portrait panels
59
166260
3000
02:49
in which I systematically order
60
169260
2000
02:51
the members of a given bloodline.
61
171260
2000
02:53
This is followed by a text panel, it's designed in scroll form,
62
173260
3000
02:56
in which I construct
63
176260
2000
02:58
the narrative at stake.
64
178260
2000
03:00
And then on the right is what I refer to as a footnote panel.
65
180260
3000
03:03
It's a space that's more intuitive
66
183260
2000
03:05
in which I present fragments of the story,
67
185260
2000
03:07
beginnings of other stories, photographic evidence.
68
187260
3000
03:10
And it's meant to kind of reflect
69
190260
3000
03:13
how we engage with histories or stories on the Internet,
70
193260
2000
03:15
in a less linear form.
71
195260
2000
03:17
So it's more disordered.
72
197260
2000
03:19
And this disorder is in direct contrast
73
199260
3000
03:22
to the unalterable order of a bloodline.
74
202260
3000
03:27
In my past projects I've often worked in serial form,
75
207260
3000
03:30
documenting things that have
76
210260
2000
03:32
the appearance of being comprehensive
77
212260
2000
03:34
through a determined title and a determined presentation,
78
214260
3000
03:37
but in fact, are fairly abstract.
79
217260
3000
03:40
In this project I wanted to work in the opposite direction
80
220260
2000
03:42
and find an absolute catalog,
81
222260
3000
03:45
something that I couldn't interrupt, curate or edit by choice.
82
225260
4000
03:49
This led me to blood.
83
229260
2000
03:51
A bloodline is determined and ordered.
84
231260
3000
03:54
But the project centers
85
234260
2000
03:56
on the collision of order and disorder --
86
236260
2000
03:58
the order of blood butting up against the disorder
87
238260
3000
04:01
represented in the often chaotic and violent stories
88
241260
3000
04:04
that are the subjects of my chapters.
89
244260
3000
04:07
In chapter two, I photograph the descendants of Arthur Ruppin.
90
247260
4000
04:11
He was sent in 1907 to Palestine
91
251260
3000
04:14
by the Zionist organization
92
254260
2000
04:16
to look at areas for Jewish settlement
93
256260
3000
04:19
and acquire land for Jewish settlement.
94
259260
3000
04:22
He oversaw land acquisition
95
262260
2000
04:24
on behalf of the Palestine Land Development Company
96
264260
3000
04:27
whose work led to the establishment
97
267260
2000
04:29
of a Jewish state.
98
269260
3000
04:32
Through my research at the Zionist Archives in Jerusalem,
99
272260
3000
04:35
I wanted to look at the early paperwork
100
275260
2000
04:37
of the establishment of the Jewish state.
101
277260
2000
04:39
And I found these maps which you see here.
102
279260
3000
04:42
And these are studies
103
282260
2000
04:44
commissioned by the Zionist organization
104
284260
2000
04:46
for alternative areas for Jewish settlement.
105
286260
2000
04:48
In this, I was interested in the consequences
106
288260
2000
04:50
of geography
107
290260
2000
04:52
and imagining how the world would be different
108
292260
2000
04:54
if Israel were in Uganda,
109
294260
3000
04:57
which is what these maps demonstrate.
110
297260
2000
04:59
These archives in Jerusalem,
111
299260
2000
05:01
they maintain a card index file
112
301260
2000
05:03
of the earliest immigrants and applicants for immigration
113
303260
3000
05:06
to Palestine, and later Israel,
114
306260
2000
05:08
from 1919 to 1965.
115
308260
3000
05:13
Chapter three:
116
313260
2000
05:15
Joseph Nyamwanda Jura Ondijo
117
315260
3000
05:18
treated patients outside of Kisumu, Kenya
118
318260
3000
05:21
for AIDS, tuberculosis, infertility,
119
321260
3000
05:24
mental illness, evil spirits.
120
324260
2000
05:26
He's most often paid for his services
121
326260
3000
05:29
in cash, cows or goats.
122
329260
3000
05:32
But sometimes when his female patients
123
332260
2000
05:34
can't afford his services,
124
334260
2000
05:36
their families give the women to Jura
125
336260
3000
05:39
in exchange for medical treatment.
126
339260
2000
05:41
As a result of these transactions,
127
341260
2000
05:43
Jura has nine wives,
128
343260
2000
05:45
32 children
129
345260
2000
05:47
and 63 grandchildren.
130
347260
2000
05:49
In his bloodline you see the children and grandchildren here.
131
349260
3000
05:54
Two of his wives were brought to him
132
354260
2000
05:56
suffering from infertility
133
356260
2000
05:58
and he cured them,
134
358260
3000
06:01
three for evil spirits,
135
361260
2000
06:03
one for an asthmatic condition and severe chest pain
136
363260
3000
06:06
and two wives Ondijo claims he took for love,
137
366260
3000
06:09
paying their families a total of 16 cows.
138
369260
3000
06:12
One wife deserted him
139
372260
2000
06:14
and another passed away during treatment for evil spirits.
140
374260
4000
06:18
Polygamy is widely practiced in Kenya.
141
378260
3000
06:21
It's common among a privileged class
142
381260
2000
06:23
capable of paying numerous dowries
143
383260
2000
06:25
and keeping multiple homes.
144
385260
2000
06:27
Instances of prominent social and political figures
145
387260
3000
06:30
in polygamous relationships
146
390260
2000
06:32
has led to the perception of polygamy
147
392260
3000
06:35
as a symbol of wealth, status and power.
148
395260
5000
06:40
You may notice in several of the chapters that I photographed
149
400260
3000
06:43
there are empty portraits.
150
403260
2000
06:45
These empty portraits represent individuals,
151
405260
2000
06:47
living individuals, who couldn't be present.
152
407260
3000
06:50
And the reasons for their absence are given in my text panel.
153
410260
3000
06:53
They include dengue fever,
154
413260
2000
06:55
imprisonment, army service,
155
415260
2000
06:57
women not allowed to be photographed
156
417260
2000
06:59
for religious and cultural reasons.
157
419260
3000
07:02
And in this particular chapter,
158
422260
2000
07:04
it's children whose mothers
159
424260
2000
07:06
wouldn't allow them to travel to the photographic shoot
160
426260
2000
07:08
for fear that their fathers would kidnap them during it.
161
428260
4000
07:14
Twenty-four European rabbits
162
434260
2000
07:16
were brought to Australia in 1859
163
436260
2000
07:18
by a British settler
164
438260
2000
07:20
for sporting purposes, for hunting.
165
440260
3000
07:23
And within a hundred years,
166
443260
2000
07:25
that population of 24 had exploded to half a billion.
167
445260
4000
07:29
The European rabbit has no natural predators in Australia,
168
449260
3000
07:32
and it competes with native wildlife
169
452260
2000
07:34
and damages native plants
170
454260
2000
07:36
and degrades the land.
171
456260
2000
07:38
Since the 1950s,
172
458260
2000
07:40
Australia has been introducing lethal diseases
173
460260
3000
07:43
into the wild rabbit population
174
463260
2000
07:45
to control growth.
175
465260
2000
07:47
These rabbits were bred at a government facility,
176
467260
3000
07:50
Biosecurity Queensland,
177
470260
2000
07:52
where they bred three bloodlines of rabbits
178
472260
2000
07:54
and have infected them with a lethal disease
179
474260
2000
07:56
and are monitoring their progress
180
476260
2000
07:58
to see if it will effectively kill them.
181
478260
3000
08:01
So they're testing its virulence.
182
481260
2000
08:03
During the course of this trial, all of the rabbits died,
183
483260
3000
08:06
except for a few, which were euthanized.
184
486260
3000
08:09
Haigh's Chocolate,
185
489260
2000
08:11
in collaboration
186
491260
2000
08:13
with the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia,
187
493260
3000
08:16
stopped all production of the Easter Bunny in chocolate
188
496260
3000
08:19
and has replaced it with the Easter Bilby.
189
499260
3000
08:22
Now this was done to counter
190
502260
2000
08:24
the annual celebration of rabbits
191
504260
2000
08:26
and presumably make the public more comfortable
192
506260
2000
08:28
with the killing of rabbits
193
508260
2000
08:30
and promote an animal that's native to Australia,
194
510260
2000
08:32
and actually an animal that is threatened
195
512260
2000
08:34
by the European rabbit.
196
514260
3000
08:38
In chapter seven, I focus on the effects
197
518260
2000
08:40
of a genocidal act
198
520260
2000
08:42
on one bloodline.
199
522260
2000
08:44
So over a two-day period,
200
524260
2000
08:46
six individuals from this bloodline
201
526260
2000
08:48
were killed in the Srebrenica massacre.
202
528260
2000
08:50
This is the only work
203
530260
2000
08:52
in which I visually represent the dead.
204
532260
2000
08:54
But I only represent those
205
534260
2000
08:56
that were killed in the Srebrenica massacre,
206
536260
2000
08:58
which is recorded as the largest mass murder in Europe
207
538260
3000
09:01
since the Second World War.
208
541260
3000
09:04
And during this massacre,
209
544260
2000
09:06
8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys
210
546260
2000
09:08
were systematically executed.
211
548260
3000
09:11
So when you look at a detail of this work,
212
551260
3000
09:14
you can see, the man on the upper-left
213
554260
2000
09:16
is the father of the woman sitting next to him.
214
556260
2000
09:18
Her name is Zumra.
215
558260
2000
09:20
She is followed by her four children,
216
560260
3000
09:23
all of whom were killed in the Srebrenica massacre.
217
563260
3000
09:26
Following those four children is Zumra's younger sister
218
566260
3000
09:29
who is then followed by her children
219
569260
2000
09:31
who were killed as well.
220
571260
3000
09:34
During the time I was in Bosnia,
221
574260
2000
09:36
the mortal remains of Zumra's eldest son
222
576260
2000
09:38
were exhumed from a mass grave.
223
578260
2000
09:40
And I was therefore able to photograph
224
580260
2000
09:42
the fully assembled remains.
225
582260
2000
09:44
However, the other individuals
226
584260
2000
09:46
are represented by these blue slides,
227
586260
2000
09:48
which show tooth and bone samples
228
588260
2000
09:50
that were matched to DNA evidence collected from family members
229
590260
3000
09:53
to prove they were the identities
230
593260
2000
09:55
of those individuals.
231
595260
2000
09:57
They've all been given a proper burial,
232
597260
2000
09:59
so what remains are these blue slides
233
599260
2000
10:01
at the International Commission for Missing Persons.
234
601260
3000
10:06
These are personal effects
235
606260
2000
10:08
dug up from a mass grave
236
608260
2000
10:10
that are awaiting identification from family members
237
610260
3000
10:13
and graffiti at the Potochari battery factory,
238
613260
3000
10:16
which was where the Dutch U.N. soldiers were staying,
239
616260
3000
10:19
and also the Serbian soldiers later
240
619260
2000
10:21
during the times of the executions.
241
621260
4000
10:25
This is video footage used at the Milosevic trial,
242
625260
2000
10:27
which from top to bottom
243
627260
2000
10:29
shows a Serbian scorpion unit
244
629260
2000
10:31
being blessed by an Orthodox priest
245
631260
3000
10:34
before rounding up the boys and men
246
634260
2000
10:36
and killing them.
247
636260
2000
10:40
Chapter 15 is more of a performance piece.
248
640260
4000
10:44
I solicited China's State Council Information Office in 2009
249
644260
4000
10:48
to select a multi-generational bloodline
250
648260
3000
10:51
to represent China for this project.
251
651260
3000
10:54
They chose a large family from Beijing for its size,
252
654260
3000
10:57
and they declined to give me
253
657260
2000
10:59
any further reasoning for their choice.
254
659260
2000
11:01
This is one of the rare situations
255
661260
2000
11:03
where I have no empty portraits.
256
663260
2000
11:05
Everyone showed up.
257
665260
2000
11:07
You can also see the evolution of the one-child-only policy
258
667260
3000
11:10
as it travels through the bloodline.
259
670260
2000
11:14
Previously known as the Department of Foreign Propaganda,
260
674260
3000
11:17
the State Council Information Office
261
677260
3000
11:20
is responsible for all of China's external publicity operations.
262
680260
4000
11:24
It controls all foreign media and image production
263
684260
3000
11:27
outside of China
264
687260
2000
11:29
from foreign media working within China.
265
689260
2000
11:31
It also monitors the Internet
266
691260
2000
11:33
and instructs local media
267
693260
2000
11:35
on how to handle any potentially controversial issues,
268
695260
3000
11:38
including Tibet, ethnic minorities,
269
698260
3000
11:41
Human Rights, religion,
270
701260
2000
11:43
democracy movements and terrorism.
271
703260
3000
11:46
For the footnote panel in this work,
272
706260
3000
11:49
this office instructed me
273
709260
2000
11:51
to photograph their central television tower in Beijing.
274
711260
3000
11:54
And I also photographed the gift bag they gave me
275
714260
2000
11:56
when I left.
276
716260
2000
12:02
These are the descendants of Hans Frank
277
722260
2000
12:04
who was Hitler's personal legal advisor
278
724260
3000
12:07
and governor general of occupied Poland.
279
727260
3000
12:10
Now this bloodline includes numerous empty portraits,
280
730260
3000
12:13
highlighting a complex relationship
281
733260
2000
12:15
to one's family history.
282
735260
3000
12:18
The reasons for these absences
283
738260
2000
12:20
include people who declined participation.
284
740260
3000
12:23
There's also parents who participated
285
743260
3000
12:26
who wouldn't let their children participate
286
746260
2000
12:28
because they thought they were too young to decide for themselves.
287
748260
3000
12:31
Another section of the family
288
751260
2000
12:33
presented their clothing, as opposed to their physical presence,
289
753260
3000
12:36
because they didn't want to be identified
290
756260
2000
12:38
with the past that I was highlighting.
291
758260
2000
12:40
And finally, another individual
292
760260
2000
12:42
sat for me from behind
293
762260
2000
12:44
and later rescinded his participation,
294
764260
2000
12:46
so I had to pixelate him out so he's unrecognizable.
295
766260
3000
12:52
In the footnote panel that accompanies this work
296
772260
2000
12:54
I photographed an official Adolph Hitler postage stamp
297
774260
4000
12:58
and an imitation of that stamp
298
778260
2000
13:00
produced by British Intelligence
299
780260
2000
13:02
with Hans Frank's image on it.
300
782260
2000
13:04
It was released in Poland
301
784260
2000
13:06
to create friction between Frank and Hitler,
302
786260
2000
13:08
so that Hitler would imagine
303
788260
2000
13:10
Frank was trying to usurp his power.
304
790260
2000
13:14
Again, talking about fate,
305
794260
2000
13:16
I was interested in the stories and fate
306
796260
2000
13:18
of particular works of art.
307
798260
2000
13:20
These paintings were taken by Hans Frank
308
800260
3000
13:23
during the time of the Third Reich.
309
803260
2000
13:25
And I'm interested in the impact of their absence and presence through time.
310
805260
4000
13:29
They are Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady With an Ermine,"
311
809260
3000
13:32
Rembrandt's "Landscape With Good Samaritan"
312
812260
3000
13:35
and Raphael's "Portrait of a Youth,"
313
815260
2000
13:37
which has never been found.
314
817260
4000
13:41
Chapter 12 highlights
315
821260
2000
13:43
people being born into a battle that is not of their making,
316
823260
3000
13:46
but becomes their own.
317
826260
2000
13:48
So this is the Ferraz family
318
828260
2000
13:50
and the Novaes family.
319
830260
2000
13:52
And they are in an active blood feud.
320
832260
3000
13:55
This feud has been going on since 1991
321
835260
3000
13:58
in Northeast Brazil in Pernambuco,
322
838260
3000
14:01
and it involved the deaths
323
841260
2000
14:03
of 20 members of the families
324
843260
2000
14:05
and 40 others associated with the feud,
325
845260
2000
14:07
including hired hit men, innocent bystanders
326
847260
3000
14:10
and friends.
327
850260
3000
14:13
Tensions between these two families date back to 1913
328
853260
3000
14:16
when there was a dispute over local political power.
329
856260
3000
14:19
But it got violent in the last two decades
330
859260
3000
14:22
and includes decapitation
331
862260
2000
14:24
and the death of two mayors.
332
864260
2000
14:26
Installed into a protective wall
333
866260
2000
14:28
surrounding the suburban home of Louis Novaes,
334
868260
3000
14:31
who's the head of the Novaes family,
335
871260
2000
14:33
are these turret holes,
336
873260
2000
14:35
which were used for shooting and looking.
337
875260
3000
14:38
Brazil's northeast state of Pernambuco
338
878260
3000
14:41
is one of the nation's most violent regions.
339
881260
3000
14:44
It's rooted in a principle of retributive justice,
340
884260
2000
14:46
or an eye for an eye,
341
886260
2000
14:48
so retaliatory killings
342
888260
2000
14:50
have led to several deaths in the area.
343
890260
3000
14:53
This story, like many of the stories in my chapters,
344
893260
3000
14:56
reads almost as an archetypal episode,
345
896260
3000
14:59
like something out of Shakespeare,
346
899260
2000
15:01
that's happening now and will happen again in the future.
347
901260
3000
15:04
I'm interested in these ideas of repetition.
348
904260
3000
15:09
So after I returned home, I received word
349
909260
2000
15:11
that one member of the family
350
911260
2000
15:13
had been shot 30 times in the face.
351
913260
3000
15:18
Chapter 17
352
918260
2000
15:20
is an exploration of the absence of a bloodline
353
920260
3000
15:23
and the absence of a history.
354
923260
2000
15:25
Children at this Ukrainian orphanage
355
925260
2000
15:27
are between the ages of six and 16.
356
927260
3000
15:30
This piece is ordered by age
357
930260
2000
15:32
because it can't be ordered by blood.
358
932260
2000
15:34
In a 12-month period when I was at the orphanage,
359
934260
3000
15:37
only one child had been adopted.
360
937260
3000
15:40
Children have to leave the orphanage at age 16,
361
940260
3000
15:43
despite the fact that there's often nowhere for them to go.
362
943260
5000
15:48
It's commonly reported in Ukraine
363
948260
2000
15:50
that children, when leaving the orphanage
364
950260
2000
15:52
are targeted for human trafficking,
365
952260
2000
15:54
child pornography and prostitution.
366
954260
3000
15:57
Many have to turn to criminal activity for their survival,
367
957260
3000
16:00
and high rates of suicide are recorded.
368
960260
5000
16:05
This is a boys' bedroom.
369
965260
2000
16:07
There's an insufficient supply of beds at the orphanage
370
967260
2000
16:09
and not enough warm clothing.
371
969260
2000
16:11
Children bathe infrequently
372
971260
2000
16:13
because the hot water isn't turned on until October.
373
973260
3000
16:16
This is a girls' bedroom.
374
976260
2000
16:18
And the director listed the orphanage's most urgent needs
375
978260
4000
16:22
as an industrial size washing machine and dryer,
376
982260
3000
16:25
four vacuum cleaners, two computers,
377
985260
2000
16:27
a video projector, a copy machine,
378
987260
3000
16:30
winter shoes and a dentist's drill.
379
990260
3000
16:33
This photograph, which I took at the orphanage of one of the classrooms,
380
993260
4000
16:37
shows a sign which I had translated when I got home.
381
997260
3000
16:40
And it reads: "Those who do not know their past
382
1000260
3000
16:43
are not worthy of their future."
383
1003260
4000
16:47
There are many more chapters in this project.
384
1007260
2000
16:49
This is just an abridged rendering
385
1009260
2000
16:51
of over a thousand images.
386
1011260
2000
16:53
And this mass pile of images and stories
387
1013260
3000
16:56
forms an archive.
388
1016260
2000
16:58
And within this accumulation of images and texts,
389
1018260
3000
17:01
I'm struggling to find patterns
390
1021260
2000
17:03
and imagine that the narratives that surround the lives we lead
391
1023260
4000
17:07
are just as coded as blood itself.
392
1027260
4000
17:11
But archives exist
393
1031260
2000
17:13
because there's something that can't necessarily be articulated.
394
1033260
3000
17:16
Something is said in the gaps
395
1036260
2000
17:18
between all the information that's collected.
396
1038260
3000
17:21
And there's this relentless persistence
397
1041260
3000
17:24
of birth and death
398
1044260
2000
17:26
and an unending collection of stories in between.
399
1046260
3000
17:29
It's almost machine-like
400
1049260
2000
17:31
the way people are born and people die,
401
1051260
2000
17:33
and the stories keep coming and coming.
402
1053260
3000
17:36
And in this, I'm considering,
403
1056260
3000
17:39
is this actual accumulation
404
1059260
2000
17:41
leading to some sort of evolution,
405
1061260
3000
17:44
or are we on repeat
406
1064260
2000
17:46
over and over again?
407
1066260
3000
17:49
Thank you.
408
1069260
2000
17:51
(Applause)
409
1071260
2000
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7