Can art amend history? | Titus Kaphar

翻译人员: Lizzy Li 校对人员: sophia chen

I love museums.

我爱博物馆。

Have you guys ever been to the Natural History Museum?

你们去过自然历史博物馆吗？

In New York City?

在纽约市的？

(Applause)

（掌声）

So one of the things that I do is I take my kids to the museum.

我会带着我的孩子去博物馆。

Recently I took them to the Natural History Museum.

最近，我带他们去了 自然历史博物馆。

I had my two sons with me, Sabian and Dabith.

我有两个儿子，Sabian和Dabith。

And we go into the front entrance of the museum,

我们从博物馆的前门进去，

and there's that amazing sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt out there.

那里有着西奥多·罗斯福 令人惊诧的雕塑。

You guys know which one I'm talking about.

你们知道我说的是哪个。

Teddy Roosevelt is sitting there with one hand on the horse,

西奥多·罗斯福坐在那里， 一只手放在马背上，

bold, strong, sleeves rolled up.

勇敢，强壮，跃跃欲试。

I don't know if he's bare-chested, but it kind of feels like it.

我不知道他是不是没穿 内里衬衣，但我感觉是没穿。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And on the left-hand side of him is a Native American walking.

在他的左手边有一个印第安人站着。

And on the right-hand side of him is an African-American walking.

在他的右手边有一个非裔美国人站着。

And as we're moving up the stairs,

当我们走上台阶，

getting closer to the sculpture,

离雕塑越来越近时，

my oldest son, who's nine, says,

我九岁的大儿子说道，

"Dad, how come he gets to ride,

“爸爸，为什么他可以骑马，

and they have to walk?"

而他们要走路呢？”

It stopped me in my tracks.

这个问题让我怔住了。

It stopped me in my tracks.

这个问题让我怔住了。

There was so much history

要回答这个问题

that we would have to go through to try to explain that,

就要牵扯到很多历史，

and that's something I try to do with them anyways.

我也一直想要回答这些问题。

It's a question that I probably would have never really asked.

这个问题，有可能我永远不会问。

But fundamentally what he was saying was,

但是本质上，他在说，

"That doesn't look fair.

“那看起来不公平。

Dad, that doesn't look fair.

爸爸，那看起来不公平。

And why is this thing that's so not fair

为什么这么不公平的雕塑

sitting outside of such an amazing institution."

可以摆放在那雄伟的博物馆外面？”

And his question got me wondering,

他的问题让我沉思，

is there a way for us to amend our public sculptures,

有没有一种方式可以让我们 改变我们的公共雕塑，

our national monuments?

改变我们的国家纪念碑？

Not erase them,

不是移除它们，

but is there a way to amend them?

而是找一种方式修改它们。

Now, I didn't grow up going to museums.

我小时候不常去博物馆。

That's not my history.

我没有这个爱好。

My mother was 15 years old when I was born.

我出生时，我的母亲才15岁。

She is amazing.

她是伟大的。

My father was struggling with his own things

在我生命的大部分时间，

for most of my life.

我父亲都在挣扎于自己的事情。

If you really want to know the truth,

如果你想知道真相，

the only reason I got into art is because of a woman.

我步入艺术殿堂的真正原因 只是为了一个女人。

There was this amazing, amazing, fantastic, beautiful, smart woman,

那是一个优秀的，美丽的，聪明的女人，

four years older than me,

比我大四岁，

and I wanted to go out with her.

我想和她约会。

But she said, "You're too young

但她说，“你太年轻了，

and you're not thinking about your future."

而且你没有考虑过未来。”

So I ran on down to the junior college,

所以我跑到大专院校，

registered for some classes,

注册了几门课，

ran on back,

跑了回来，

and basically was like, "I'm thinking about my future now."

基本上就像是， “我现在考虑了我的未来。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"Can we go out?"

“我们可以约会了吗？”

For the record, she's even more amazing.

顺便说一下， 她比我想象的更让人惊叹。

I married her.

我娶了她。

(Applause)

（掌声）

So when I randomly ran down to the junior college

实际上，当我跑到大专院校

and registered for classes,

注册课程的时候，

I really wasn't paying attention to what I was registering to.

我根本没有注意我注册了什么课。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So I ended up with an art history class,

结果我选的是艺术历史课，

and I didn't know a thing about art history.

而我对艺术历史一无所知。

But something amazing happened when I went into that class.

但当我踏进课堂时， 不可思议的事情发生了。

For the first time in my academic career,

在我的职业生涯中，

my visual intelligence was required of me.

我第一次需要用到视觉智能。

For the first time.

第一次。

The professor would put up an image,

教授放了一张图片，

bold strokes of blues and yellows, and say, "Who's that?"

蓝色、黄色的粗线条， 问道，“这是谁？”

And I'd go, "That's Van Gogh. Clearly that is Van Gogh.

我回答，“这是梵高。很明显是梵高。

I got this."

我知道。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I got a B in that class.

那门课我拿了B。

For me, that was amazing.

对我来说，这已经很棒了。

In high school, let's just say I wasn't a great student. OK?

在高中，我不是个好学生。知道吗？

In high school, my GPA was .65.

在高中，我的GPA只有0.65。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Decimal point first, six five.

前面只有小数点，六，五。

So me getting a B was huge, huge,

所以拿到B是一个很大很大的

absolutely huge.

成就。

And because of the fact that I realized that I was able to learn things visually

正因为我意识到我可以 通过视觉来学习一些

that I couldn't learn in other ways,

用其它方式无法学习到的东西，

this became my strategy, this became my tactic

这变成了我的策略，变成了

for understanding everything else.

我理解其他事物的手段。

I wanted to stay in this relationship. Things were going well.

我想留在这段关系中。 事情发展得很顺利。

I decided, let me keep taking these art history classes.

我决定继续上这些艺术历史课。

我永远不会忘记艺术历史 的最后一堂课，永远不会忘记。

One of the last art history classes, I will not forget, I will never forget.

It was one of those survey art history classes.

那是一堂艺术史概论。

有人上过艺术史概论课吗？

Anybody ever have one of those survey art history classes,

where they try to teach you the entire history of art

那种在短短一学期，就试图讲完

in a single semester?

整个艺术史的课。

I'm talking about cave paintings and Jackson Pollock

我说的是从洞穴壁画 到杰克逊·波洛克，

just crunched together all in the same --

把所有艺术史都放进来

It doesn't really work, but they try anyway.

其实学不到什么， 但是还是有这门课存在。

Well, at the beginning of the semester,

刚开学的时候，

I looked at the book,

我看了看教科书。

and in this 400-page book was about a 14-page section

在这本400页的书里面 有14页的篇幅

that was on black people in painting.

讲了关于绘画里的黑人。

Now, this was a crammed in section

就这么一点儿的篇幅

that had representations of black people in painting

涵盖了所有画里出现的黑人

and black people who painted.

和黑人画家。

It was poorly curated, let's just put it that way.

说白了，没什么人会注意。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Nonetheless I was really excited about it,

但我对此感到很兴奋，

because in all the other classes that I had,

因为我上的所有其他的课

we didn't even have that conversation.

连这么一点点篇幅都没有。

We didn't talk about it at all.

压根儿没有人讨论。

So imagine my surprise

所以我带着疑惑

when I get to class

走入课堂，

and on the day that we're supposed to go over that particular chapter,

那天我们应该讲那个章节，

my professor announces,

我的教授说，

"We're going to skip this chapter today

“我们今天就跳过这章，

because we do not have time to go through it."

“因为我们没时间了。”

"Whoa, I'm sorry, hold on, professor, professor.

“哇，不好意思， 等一下，教授，教授。”

I'm sorry. This is a really important chapter to me.

“很抱歉，但那章对我来说意义非凡。

Are we going to go over it at any point?"

我们真的完全略过吗？”

"Titus, we don't have time for this."

“Titus，我们没时间过这章了。”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

“很抱歉，真的很抱歉，

但我真的需要搞清楚缘由。

please, I really need to understand.

很明显，作者本人 觉得这一篇很重要。

Clearly the author thinks that this is significant.

Why are we skipping over this?"

为什么我们要略过呢？”

“Titus，我没时间。”

"Titus, I do not have time for this."

"OK, last question, I'm really sorry here.

“好吧，最后一个问题， 非常不好意思。

When can we talk, because we need to talk."

我们什么时候能谈谈？必须谈谈。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I went to her office hours.

我去了她的答疑时段。

I ended up getting kicked out of her office.

结果呢，被她赶了出来。

I went to the dean.

我去找院长。

The dean finally told me, "I can't force her to teach anything."

院长告诉我：“我不能 对她的教学指手画脚。”

And I knew in that moment if I wanted to understand this history,

那一刻我明白了， 如果我想要了解那段历史，

if I wanted to understand the roles of those folks who had to walk,

如果我想要了解 为什么那群人必须得走，

I was probably going to have to figure that out myself.

我需要靠自己找到答案。

So ...

所以，

above you right here on the slide

你们看到的这张幻灯片，

is a painting by Frans Hals.

是弗兰斯·哈尔斯的一幅画。

This is one of the kinds of images

这是在那篇章节里的

that was in that chapter.

其中一幅画。

I taught myself how to paint

我通过去博物馆

by going to museums and looking at images like this.

观摩类似的画作，自学了画画。

I want to show you something.

我想让你们看一个东西。

I made this.

我画了这幅，

I --

我——

(Applause)

（掌声）

I made some alterations.

我做了些调整。

You'll see there are some slight differences in the painting.

你们可以看到这幅画 跟上面那幅有些不同的地方。

All this art history that I had been absorbing

通过对艺术史的学习，

helped me to realize that painting is a language.

我意识到画画是一门语言。

There is a reason

他之所以这么高

why he is the highest in the composition here.

是有原因的。

There is a reason

作者画了这条金项链，

why the painter is showing us this gold necklace here.

也是有原因的。

He's trying to tell us something about the economic status

他想要通过这个告诉我们

of these people in these paintings.

这些画中人的阶级。

Painting is a visual language

画作是视觉语言。

where everything in the painting

画中的所有元素

is meaningful, is important.

都是有意义的，重要的。

It's coded.

都想要传达一些信息。

But sometimes, because of the compositional structure,

但有些时候，由于构造框架，

because of compositional hierarchy,

由于构造等级阶层，

it's hard to see other things.

我们很难看到别的东西。

This silk is supposed to tell us also that they have quite a bit of money.

这个丝缎试图告诉我们这些人很有钱。

There's more written

艺术史里，

about dogs in art history

关于狗的描述，

than there are about this other character here.

要比这里的一位人物多得多。

Historically speaking, in research on these kinds of paintings,

从历史的角度来说， 通过对于这种类型的画作的研究，

I can find out more about the lace

我可以找出的

that the woman is wearing in this painting --

关于这幅画里女性 穿戴的蕾丝的信息，

the manufacturer of the lace -- than I can about this character here,

关于蕾丝的制造商的信息——

about his dreams, about his hopes,

相比这位男性的梦想和追求，

about what he wanted out of life.

以及关于他想要的 生活的信息还要多。

I want to show you something.

我还想要给你们看一些东西。

I don't want you to think

不要以为，

that this is about eradication.

我在毁坏这幅作品。

It's not.

我并没有。

The oil that you saw me just put inside of this paint

我使用的这种油，

is linseed oil.

是亚麻籽油。

It becomes transparent over time,

它过段时间会变透明。

so eventually what's going to happen

所以最终，

is these faces

这些脸，

will emerge a little bit.

还是会露出来。

What I'm trying to do,

我想要做的，以及

what I'm trying to show you,

我想要让你们看的是，

is how to shift your gaze just slightly,

如何轻微转移你们的注意力，

just momentarily,

只是暂时的，

just momentarily,

只是暂时的，

to ask yourself the question,

问问自己一个问题，

why do some have to walk?

为什么有些人必须得走路呢？

What is the impact of these kinds of sculptures at museums?

这些在博物馆里的雕刻 会为我们带来什么样的影响呢？

What is the impact of these kinds of paintings

当我们社会中最脆弱的群体

on some of our most vulnerable in society,

时时刻刻都会看到 这样的画面的时候，

seeing these kinds of depictions of themselves all the time?

这些画作会对他们 产生什么影响呢？

I'm not saying erase it.

我不是说要抹除这样的画作，

We can't erase this history.

我们无法抹除历史。

It's real. We have to know it.

这些都是既定存在的， 我们必须对此有所了解。

I think of it in the same way

我和大家的想法

we think of --

是一致的。

Let me step back a second.

我们来回溯一下。

You remember old-school cameras,

记得老式相机吗？

where when you took a picture, you actually had to focus. Right?

当你想要拍照的时候， 你需要对焦对吧？

You'd put the camera up,

你得架起相机，

and if I wanted you in focus,

如果我想对焦你，

I would move the lens a little to the left

我就得把镜头向左移一点，

and you would come forward.

你也得往前站一步。

I could move the lens a little to the right,

我也可以把镜头往右移一点儿，

and you would go back and the folks in the background would come out.

你就得往后走一点，在后面的 那些人镜头里也能看得清。

我现在就在做类似的事情。

I'm just trying to do that here.

I'm trying to give you that opportunity.

我在试图让你们能够 有机会看清后面的人。

I'm trying to answer that question

我在试图回答

that my son had.

我儿子问我的那个问题。

I want to make paintings,

我想要做出真实的

I want to make sculptures

绘画

that are honest,

和雕塑，

that wrestle with the struggles of our past

是和我们走过的曲折息息相关的，

but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present.

和我们的多样性以及 现今社会的进步是息息相关的，

And we can't do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff.

我们不能靠抹去历史来进步。

That's just not going to work.

那样做是行不通的。

I think that we should do it in the same way

我认为我们应该

the American Constitution works.

向美国国会学习。

When we have a situation

当我们出现了问题，

where we want to change a law in the American Constitution,

想要更改美国国会的法律，

we don't erase the other one.

我们不用去推倒重来，

Alongside that is an amendment,

只需要对它们进行修改，

something that says,

修改成

"This is where we were, but this is where we are right now."

“这就是我们的历史， 但现在我们有所进步。”

I figure if we can do that,

我发现，如果能做到，

then that will help us understand a little bit

就会帮助我们更好的理解

about where we're going.

我们的现在和未来。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）