Nalini Nadkarni: Life science in prison

ナリーニ・ナドカーニ：「刑務所内の生命科学」

翻訳: Hideki Kamiya 校正: Yukiko Oikawa

Trees epitomize stasis.

木は静止状態の典型です

Trees are rooted in the ground in one place

根を張ると何世代もの間

for many human generations,

同じ地にあります

but if we shift our perspective

しかし視点を

from the trunk to the twigs,

幹から小枝に移すと

trees become very dynamic entities,

木は活発な動体となります

moving and growing.

動き成長するのです

And I decided to explore this movement

私はこの動きを探究するため

by turning trees into artists.

木を芸術家にしました

I simply tied the end of a paintbrush onto a twig.

単純に 小枝に筆の先端を結びました

I waited for the wind to come up and held up a canvas,

風を待ち、カンバスを保持しました

and that produced art.

すると芸術を生み出すのです

The piece of art you see on your left

左の絵は

is painted by a western red cedar

ベイスギが

and that on your right by a Douglas fir,

右はダグラスファーが描きました

and what I learned was that different species

木にはそれぞれ特徴があり

have different signatures, like a Picasso versus a Monet.

それはまるでピカソとモネのようです

But I was also interested in the movement of trees

しかし私は木の動きをどう捉え

and how this art might let me capture that and quantify it,

数量化するかに興味を持ちました

so to measure the distance that a single vine maple tree --

それでこの絵を描いたツタカエデの

which produced this painting -- moved in a single year,

年間運動距離を測るために

I simply measured and summed

個々のラインを

each of those lines.

測定合計しました

I multiplied them by the number of twigs per branch

それに枝1本当りの小枝数と

and the number of branches per tree

木1本当りの枝数を掛けて

and then divided that by the number of minutes per year.

1年を分換算したもので割りました

And so I was able to calculate

それで木1本の

how far a single tree moved in a single year.

年間運動距離を計算できました

You might have a guess.

どれだけかわかりますか

The answer is actually 186,540 miles,

186,540マイル

or seven times around the globe.

地球7周分です

And so simply by shifting our perspective from a single trunk

単に視点をひとつの幹から

to the many dynamic twigs,

たくさんの動的な小枝に移すことで

we are able to see that trees are not simply static entities,

木は単なる静物ではなく

but rather extremely dynamic.

極めて躍動的だとわかるのです

And I began to think about ways that

私はこの木から学んだことの

we might consider this lesson of trees,

生かし方を考え

to consider other entities that are also static and stuck,

静的で行き場がないが変化と躍動を

but which cry for change and dynamicism,

求める他の存在物を考え始めました

and one of those entities is our prisons.

その1つが刑務所です

Prisons, of course, are where people who break our laws

刑務所は法を犯した人が

are stuck, confined behind bars.

監禁拘束されている所です

And our prison system itself is stuck.

刑務所制度自体も行き詰っています

The United States has over 2.3 million

全米で230万人以上の

incarcerated men and women.

男女が投獄されており

That number is rising.

その数は増加しています

Of the 100 incarcerated people that are released,

釈放された人の6割が

60 will return to prison.

刑務所に戻ってきます

Funds for education, for training

教育、職業訓練、社会復帰の

and for rehabilitation are declining,

資金は減少しています

so this despairing cycle of incarceration continues.

この投獄の悪循環は終わりません

I decided to ask whether the lesson

芸術家としての木から

I had learned from trees as artists

学んだことが静的施設に

could be applied to a static institution

適用できるかを調べました

such as our prisons,

刑務所のような施設です

and I think the answer is yes.

答えはイエスです

In the year 2007,

2007年に

I started a partnership

ワシントン州更生局との

with the Washington State Department of Corrections.

提携を発足しました

Working with four prisons, we began bringing science and scientists,

4刑務所と協働で、科学と科学者

sustainability and conservation projects

持続可能性と保全プロジェクトを

to four state prisons.

4つの州刑務所に持ち込みました

We give science lectures,

我々は科学の講義をします

and the men here are choosing to come to our science lectures

囚人は科学講義に来ます

instead of watching television or weightlifting.

ＴＶや重量挙げの代わりです

That, I think, is movement.

それは動きだと思います

We partnered with the Nature Conservancy

スタフォードクリーク矯正センターの

for inmates at Stafford Creek Correctional Center

囚人のために自然管理委員会と組み

to grow endangered prairie plants

絶滅危惧植物を栽培しました

for restoration of relic prairie areas in Washington state.

州に残された大草原を復元するためです

That, I think, is movement.

これも動きだと思います

We worked with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife

ワシントン州野生生物局と協働し

to grow endangered frogs -- the Oregon spotted frog --

絶滅危惧種のカエルを飼育し

for later release into protected wetlands.

後に保護湿地に放流しました

That, I think, is movement.

これも動きです

And just recently, we've begun to work with

最近協働しているのは

those men who are segregated

最高レベル警備施設に

in what we call Supermax facilities.

隔離されている囚人です

They've incurred violent infractions

亀裂骨折を負っています

by becoming violent with guards

看守や他の囚人と

and with other prisoners.

暴力沙汰になったのです

They're kept in bare cells like this

何もない個室に隔離です

for 23 hours a day.

1日23時間です

When they have meetings with their review boards or mental health professionals,

審査委員や精神科医との面接の際

they're placed in immobile booths like this.

身動きできないブースに入ります

For one hour a day

1日1時間閑散とした

they're brought to these bleak and bland exercise yards.

味気ない運動場に連れて来られます

Although we can't bring trees and prairie plants

木や植物、カエルを

and frogs into these environments,

身近な環境に持ち込めませんが

we are bringing images of nature

自然のイメージを

into these exercise yards,

運動場に取り込み

putting them on the walls, so at least they get contact

壁も植物で覆うので

with visual images of nature.

自然のイメージと接触できるのです

This is Mr. Lopez, who has been in solitary confinement for 18 months,

18ヵ月間独房にいるロペス氏です

and he's providing input on the types of images

彼はあるイメージを提供してくれます

that he believes would make him and his fellow inmates

自分自身や仲間を

more serene, more calm,

平穏安静にし

less apt to violence.

非暴力的にする理想型です

And so what we see, I think,

ご覧の通り

is that small, collective movements of change

変化を求める小さな動きが集まれば

can perhaps move

動かすことができるのです

an entity such as our own prison system

刑務所制度のようなものを

in a direction of hope.

希望に導くのです

We know that trees are static entities

幹だけを見ると

when we look at their trunks.

木は静物です

But if trees can create art,

でも木が芸術を創造できるなら

if they can encircle the globe seven times in one year,

1年に地球を7周できるなら

if prisoners can grow plants and raise frogs,

囚人が植物やカエルを飼育するなら

then perhaps there are other static entities

我々の内面にある

that we hold inside ourselves,

他の静物、例えば

like grief, like addictions,

悲痛、中毒

like racism,

人種差別なども

that can also change.

同様に変えられるのです

Thank you very much.

ご清聴ありがとうございました

(Applause)

（拍手）