Becci Manson: (Re)touching lives through photos

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Maria Filekova Reviewer: Peter Štrba

Before March, 2011, I was a photographic retoucher

Pred marcom 2011 som pracovala ako retušérka fotiek

based in New York City.

v New Yorku.

We're pale, gray creatures.

Sme bledé, sivé tvory.

We hide in dark, windowless rooms,

Skrývame sa v tmavých miestnostiach bez okien

and generally avoid sunlight.

a vo všeobecnosti sa vyhýbame slnku.

We make skinny models skinnier, perfect skin more perfect,

Z chudých modeliek robíme ešte vychudnutejšie, z dokonalej pokožky dokonalejšiu,

and the impossible possible,

z nemožného možné

and we get criticized in the press all the time,

a vkuse nás v tlači kritizujú,

but some of us are actually talented artists

no niektorí z nás sú v skutočnosti talentovaní umelci

with years of experience

s mnohoročnými skúsenosťami

and a real appreciation for images and photography.

a láskou k fotkám a fotografovaniu.

On March 11, 2011, I watched from home, as the rest

11. 3. 2011 som z domu sledovala, podobne ako

of the world did, as the tragic events unfolded in Japan.

zvyšok sveta, tragické udalosti v Japonsku.

Soon after, an organization I volunteer with,

O pár dní neskôr bola dobrovoľnícka organizácia

All Hands Volunteers, were on the ground, within days,

All Hands Volunteers, do ktorej patrím, už v teréne

working as part of the response efforts.

a pracovala na obnove krajiny.

I, along with hundreds of other volunteers,

Ako stovky ďalších dobrovoľníkov,

knew we couldn't just sit at home,

aj ja som vedela, že nemôžem len tak sedieť doma,

so I decided to join them for three weeks.

tak som sa k nim rozhodla na tri týždne pridať.

On May the 13th, I made my way to the town of Ōfunato.

13.5. som pricestovala do mesta Ofunato.

It's a small fishing town in Iwate Prefecture,

Je to malé rybárske mesto v prefektúre Iwate,

about 50,000 people,

má asi 50 000 obyvateľov

one of the first that was hit by the wave.

a je jedným z prvých miest, ktoré zasiahla tsunami.

The waters here have been recorded at reaching

Podľa záznamov tu voda dosiahla

over 24 meters in height,

výšku až nad 24 metrov

and traveled over two miles inland.

a zašla viac ako 3 km do vnútrozemia.

As you can imagine, the town had been devastated.

Ako si iste viete predstaviť, mesto bolo spustošené.

We pulled debris from canals and ditches.

Trosky sme odstraňovali z kanálov a priekop.

We cleaned schools. We de-mudded and gutted homes

Čistili sme školy. Vyprázdňovali sme domy a zbavovali sme ich bahna,

ready for renovation and rehabilitation.

aby sa mohli začať renovovať.

We cleared tons and tons of stinking, rotting fish carcasses

Odstránili sme tony a tony zapáchajúcich hnijúcich mŕtvych rýb

from the local fish processing plant.

z miestnej továrne na spracovanie rýb.

We got dirty, and we loved it.

Zašpinili sme sa, a páčilo sa nám to.

For weeks, all the volunteers and locals alike

Celé týždne dobrovoľníci a aj miestni obyvatelia

had been finding similar things.

nachádzali podobné veci.

They'd been finding photos and photo albums

Nachádzali fotky, fotoalbumy,

and cameras and SD cards.

fotoaparáty a pamäťové karty.

And everyone was doing the same.

A všetci robili to isté.

They were collecting them up, and handing them in to

Zbierali ich a odovzdávali

various places around the different towns for safekeeping.

do úschovy na viacerých mestách.

Now, it wasn't until this point that I realized

Dovtedy som si ani neuvedomila,

that these photos were such a huge part

že tieto fotky tvorili takú veľkú časť

of the personal loss these people had felt.

osobnej straty, ktorú títo ľudia cítili.

As they had run from the wave, and for their lives,

Keď utekali pred vlnou, zachraňujúc si holý život,

absolutely everything they had,

úplne všetko, čo mali,

everything had to be left behind.

všetko museli nechať tak.

At the end of my first week there, I found myself

Na konci prvého týždňa, čo som tam strávila,

helping out in an evacuation center in the town.

som pomáhala v evakuačnom centre v meste.

I was helping clean the onsen, the communal onsen,

Pomáhala som čistiť onsen,

the huge giant bathtubs.

čiže obrovské vane.

This happened to also be a place in the town where

Zhodou okolností to bolo aj miestom,

the evacuation center was collecting the photos.

kde evakuačné centrum zhromažďovalo fotky.

This is where people were handing them in,

Ľudia ich tu odovzdávali

and I was honored that day that they actually trusted me

a v ten deň som mala tú česť, že som im mohla

to help them start hand-cleaning them.

pomáhať začať fotky ručne čistiť.

Now, it was emotional and it was inspiring,

Bolo to dojemné a inšpirujúce.

and I've always heard about thinking outside the box,

Stále počúvame, že máme byť originálni a tvoriví,

but it wasn't until I had actually gotten outside of my box

ale až keď som sama vyšla zo svojej ulity

that something happened.

sa niečo stalo.

As I looked through the photos, there were some

Keď som si prezerala fotky, niektoré z nich

were over a hundred years old,

mali vyše sto rokov,

some still in the envelope from the processing lab,

niektoré boli ešte v obálke z fotolabu.

I couldn't help but think as a retoucher

Ako retušérka som si zakaždým mimovoľne pomyslela,

that I could fix that tear and mend that scratch,

že by som vedela opraviť ten škrabanec alebo tú roztrhnutú časť

and I knew hundreds of people who could do the same.

a poznala som stovky ľudí, ktorí by vedeli urobiť to isté.

So that evening, I just reached out on Facebook

A tak som sa v ten večer cez Facebook

and asked a few of them, and by morning

opýtala niekoľkých z nich a do rána

the response had been so overwhelming and so positive,

boli reakcie také ohromné a pozitívne,

I knew we had to give it a go.

že sme to nemohli neskúsiť.

So we started retouching photos.

Takže sme začali upravovať fotky.

This was the very first.

Toto bola úplne prvá.

Not terribly damaged, but where the water had caused

Nebola až taká zničená, ale miesto, kde voda

that discoloration on the girl's face

zmenila farbu tváre dievčaťa,

had to be repaired with such accuracy and delicacy.

muselo byť veľmi presne a jemne opravené.

Otherwise, that little girl isn't going to look

Ináč by to dievčatko už nevyzeralo

like that little girl anymore, and surely that's as tragic

ako toto dievčatko a to by určite bolo podobne tragické,

as having the photo damaged.

ako mať zničenú fotku.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)

Over time, more photos came in, thankfully,

Časom dorazili ďalšie fotky

and more retouchers were needed,

a potrebovali sme viac retušérov

and so I reached out again on Facebook and LinkedIn,

a tak som znovu napísala na Facebook a LinkedIn

and within five days, 80 people wanted to help

a do piatich dní ponúklo svoju pomoc 80 ľudí

from 12 different countries.

z 12 krajín.

Within two weeks, I had 150 people

Do dvoch týždňov som mala 150 ľudí,

wanting to join in.

ktorí sa chceli zapojiť.

Within Japan, by July, we'd branched out

V Japonsku sme v júli rozšírili svoju činnosť

to the neighboring town of Rikuzentakata,

do susedného mesta Rikuzentakata

further north to a town called Yamada.

a severnejšie do mesta Jamada.

Once a week, we would set up our scanning equipment

Raz za týždeň sme zapojili skenery

in the temporary photo libraries that had been set up,

v provizórnych fotoknižniciach,

where people were reclaiming their photos.

kde si ľudia chodili vyzdvihnúť svoje fotky.

The older ladies sometimes hadn't seen a scanner before,

Niektoré staršie panie nikdy predtým skener nevideli,

but within 10 minutes of them finding their lost photo,

ale keď našli svoju stratenú fotku, v rámci 10 minút

they could give it to us, have it scanned,

nám ju mohli dať, nechať si ju naskenovať a

uploaded to a cloud server, it would be downloaded

nahrať na cloud server. Potom si ju stiahol

by a gaijin, a stranger,

gaidžin, čiže cudzinec,

somewhere on the other side of the globe,

niekde na druhej strane zemegule

and it'd start being fixed.

a začal ju opravovať.

The time it took, however, to get it back

Čas, za ktorý sa fotka dostala naspať k majiteľom,

is a completely different story,

bol však už rôzny

and it depended obviously on the damage involved.

a závisel samozrejme od miery poškodenia.

It could take an hour. It could take weeks.

Mohlo to trvať hodinu. Mohlo to trvať týždne.

It could take months.

Mohlo to trvať mesiace.

The kimono in this shot pretty much had to be hand-drawn,

Kimono na tomto zábere muselo byť viac-menej ručne namaľované

or pieced together, picking out the remaining parts of color

alebo poskladané na základe zvyšných farebných častí

and detail that the water hadn't damaged.

a častí kimona, ktoré voda nezničila.

It was very time-consuming.

Časovo to bolo veľmi náročné.

Now, all these photos had been damaged by water,

Všetky fotky boli zničené vodou,

submerged in salt water, covered in bacteria,

ponorené v slanej vode, pokryté baktériami,

in sewage, sometimes even in oil, all of which over time

splaškami, niekedy aj olejom, čo by fotky postupom času

is going to continue to damage them,

naďalej poškodzovalo,

so hand-cleaning them was a huge part of the project.

takže ručné čistenie bolo významnou časťou projektu.

We couldn't retouch the photo unless it was cleaned,

Nemohli sme fotku retušovať, ak nebola vyčistená,

dry and reclaimed.

suchá a neprihlásil sa k nej majiteľ.

Now, we were lucky with our hand-cleaning.

S ručným čistením sme mali šťastie.

We had an amazing local woman who guided us.

Viedla nás jedna úžasná miestna žena.

It's very easy to do more damage to those damaged photos.

Je veľmi ľahké poškodené fotky ešte viac zničiť.

As my team leader Wynne once said,

Ako raz povedal Wynne, vedúci môjho tímu,

it's like doing a tattoo on someone.

je to ako robiť niekomu tetovanie.

You don't get a chance to mess it up.

Proste to nemôžeš sfušovať.

The lady who brought us these photos was lucky,

Pani, ktorá nám priniesla tieto fotky, mala šťastie,

as far as the photos go.

čo sa týka fotiek.

She had started hand-cleaning them herself and stopped

Začala ich ručne čistiť sama a prestala,

when she realized she was doing more damage.

keď zistila, že robí viac škody ako úžitku.

She also had duplicates.

Mala tiež kópie.

Areas like her husband and her face, which otherwise

Plochy ako jej manžel alebo jej tvár, ktoré by ináč

would have been completely impossible to fix,

vôbec nebolo možné opraviť,

we could just put them together in one good photo,

sme mohli jednoducho skombinovať do jednej dobrej fotky

and remake the whole photo.

a prerobiť celú fotku.

When she collected the photos from us,

Keď si od nás fotky preberala,

she shared a bit of her story with us.

podelila sa s nami o svoj príbeh.

Her photos were found by her husband's colleagues

Fotky našli kolegovia jej manžela

at a local fire department in the debris

v troskách v miestnej požiarnej zbrojnici,

a long way from where the home had once stood,

ktorá bola ďaleko od miesta, kde raz stál jej dom,

and they'd recognized him.

a spoznali ho.

The day of the tsunami, he'd actually been in charge

V deň tsunami mal

of making sure the tsunami gates were closed.

skontrolovať, či sú zábrany proti tsunami uzavreté.

He had to go towards the water as the sirens sounded.

Keď zazneli sirény, musel ísť k vode.

Her two little boys, not so little anymore, but her two boys

Jej dvaja chlapčekovia, vlastne už nie sú takí malí, jej dvaja chlapci

were both at school, separate schools.

boli v škole, v rôznych školách.

One of them got caught up in the water.

Jedného dobehla vlna.

It took her a week to find them all again

Trvalo jej týždeň, kým ich všetkých našla

and find out that they had all survived.

a uistila sa, že všetci prežili.

The day I gave her the photos also happened to be

V deň, keď som je dala fotky, mal zhodou okolností

her youngest son's 14th birthday.

jej najmladší syn 14. narodeniny.

For her, despite all of this, those photos

Napriek všetkému boli tieto fotky pre ňu

were the perfect gift back to him,

dokonalým darčekom pre svojho syna,

something he could look at again, something he remembered from before

boli niečím, na čo sa mohol zas pozrieť, niečím, čo si pamätal,

that wasn't still scarred from that day in March

niečím, čo už nebolo zjazvené z toho marcového dňa,

when absolutely everything else in his life had changed

keď sa úplne všetko ostatné v jeho živote zmenilo

or been destroyed.

alebo zničilo.

After six months in Japan,

Počas šiestich mesiacov v Japonsku

1,100 volunteers had passed through All Hands,

prostredníctvom organizácie All Hands pôsobilo 1100 dobrovoľníkov,

hundreds of whom had helped us hand-clean

a stovky z nich nám pomohli ručne vyčistiť

over 135,000 photographs,

vyše 135 000 fotiek,

the large majority — (Applause) —

z ktorých veľká väčšina -- (Potlesk) --

a large majority of which did actually find their home again,

z ktorých si veľká väčšina znova našla

importantly.

svojich majiteľov.

Over five hundred volunteers around the globe

Vyše päťsto dobrovoľníkov z celého sveta

helped us get 90 families hundreds of photographs back,

nám pomohlo vrátiť 90 rodinám stovky fotiek späť,

fully restored and retouched.

a to úplne obnovených a upravených.

During this time, we hadn't really spent more than

Počas celej doby sme na vybavenie a materiál

about a thousand dollars in equipment and materials,

neminuli viac než tisíc dolárov

most of which was printer inks.

a väčšina z toho šla na farbu do tlačiarne.

We take photos constantly.

Ľudia fotia neustále.

A photo is a reminder of someone or something,

Fotka nám pripomína niekoho alebo niečo,

a place, a relationship, a loved one.

miesto, vzťah, milovanú osobu.

They're our memory-keepers and our histories,

Uchovávajú nám spomienky a sú našimi príbehmi,

the last thing we would grab

poslednou vecou, na ktorú by sme siahli

and the first thing you'd go back to look for.

a prvou, po ktorú by sme sa vrátili.

That's all this project was about,

Tento projekt bol presne o tom:

about restoring those little bits of humanity,

obnoviť tieto kúsky ľudskosti

giving someone that connection back.

a vrátiť ľuďom toto spojenie.

When a photo like this can be returned to someone like this,

Keď môžeme takúto fotku vrátiť niekomu takémuto,

it makes a huge difference

má to obrovský význam

in the lives of the person receiving it.

v živote človeka, ktorý ju príjme.

The project's also made a big difference in the lives of the retouchers.

Projekt mal veľký význam aj v živote retušérov.

For some of them, it's given them a connection

Pre niektorých to bola šanca podieľať sa

to something bigger, giving something back,

na niečom veľkom, šanca odvďačiť sa,

using their talents on something

použiť svoj talent na niečo iné

other than skinny models and perfect skin.

než vychudnuté modelky a dokonalú pokožku.

I would like to conclude by reading an email

Na záver by som chcela prečítať jeden mail,

I got from one of them, Cindy,

ktorý som dostala od retušérky Cindy

the day I finally got back from Japan after six months.

v deň, keď som sa po šiestich mesiacoch vrátila z Japonska:

"As I worked, I couldn't help but think about the individuals

„Keď som pracovala, stále som musela rozmýšľať o jednotlivých ľuďoch

and the stories represented in the images.

a príbehoch zachytených na fotkách.

One in particular, a photo of women of all ages,

Hlavne jedna, viacgeneračná fotka žien

from grandmother to little girl, gathered around a baby,

od starej mamy po malé dievča, zhromaždených okolo bábätka,

struck a chord, because a similar photo from my family,

mi zahrala na citlivú strunu, lebo podobná fotka mojej rodiny,

my grandmother and mother, myself,

na ktorej je babka, mama, ja

and newborn daughter, hangs on our wall.

a novonarodená dcéra, visí u nás na stene.

Across the globe, throughout the ages,

Naprieč zemeguľou, v každej dobe

our basic needs are just the same, aren't they?"

sú naše základné potreby rovnaké, nie je tak?“

Thank you. (Applause)

Ďakujem. (Potlesk)

(Applause)

(Potlesk)