Chris Jordan: Turning powerful stats into art

翻译人员: Zhu Cheng 校对人员: Zachary Lin Zhao

My work is about the behaviors that we all engage in unconsciously,

我的作品描绘了我们大家都会有的下意识的行为

on a collective level.

大量积累后的结果

And what I mean by that, it's the behaviors

我的意思是说 对于这些行为

that we're in denial about,

我们会矢口否认

and the ones that operate below the surface of our daily awareness.

这些行为是我们日常生活中完全没有意识到的

And as individuals, we all do these things, all the time, everyday.

但是我们每一个人 每一天 每时每刻都在做着这类事

It's like when you're mean to your wife

比如说你对你的老婆态度恶劣

because you're mad at somebody else.

因为你被其他人给气着了

Or when you drink a little too much at a party, just out of anxiety.

或者你在一个派对上多喝了几杯 只是出于焦虑

Or when you overeat because your feelings are hurt, or whatever.

再或者你特别能吃 因为你遭受了情感伤害或者其他什么原因

And when we do these kind of things,

那么当我们做这类事情的时候

when 300 million people do unconscious behaviors,

当3亿人都下意识地做了同一件事

then it can add up to a catastrophic consequence

其结果累计起来就会是毁灭性的

that nobody wants, and no one intended.

而这结果是没有人愿意看到的 谁也不会故意去做这样的事

And that's what I look at with my photographic work.

这类积少成多的无意识行为也正是我的摄影作品所关注的

This is an image I just recently completed, that is --

这是我最近刚完成的一幅作品

when you stand back at a distance,

当你站在远处看的时候

it looks like some kind of neo-Gothic, cartoon image

它看起来好像一幅新歌特式的卡通画

of a factory spewing out pollution.

画的是一个工厂正在排放污染

And as you get a little bit closer,

当你走近一点

it starts looking like lots of pipes, like maybe a chemical plant,

它看起来像是很多的管子 像是一个化工厂

or a refinery, or maybe a hellish freeway interchange.

或是一个炼油厂 也许是高速公路的立体交叉道

And as you get all the way up close,

但如果你走到跟前来看的话

you realize that it's actually made of lots and lots of plastic cups.

你会发现原来这实际上是很多很多的塑料杯子

And in fact, this is one million plastic cups,

事实上 这里是1百万个塑料杯

which is the number of plastic cups that are used on airline flights

这正是美国的航空公司

in the United States every six hours.

每6个小时消耗掉的塑料杯的数量

We use four million cups a day on airline flights,

我们每天要在飞机上用掉4百万个塑料杯

and virtually none of them are reused or recycled.

而且没有一个杯子被回收或再利用

They just don't do that in that industry.

整个行业里没有人去做这件事

Now, that number is dwarfed

但是跟另一个数目比起来 这个塑料杯的数目简直是小巫见大巫

by the number of paper cups we use every day,

现在我要说的是我们每天用掉的纸杯的数量

and that is 40 million cups a day for hot beverages,

我们每天要用掉4千万个纸杯用来装热饮

most of which is coffee.

主要是咖啡

I couldn't fit 40 million cups on a canvas,

我无法在一张画布上塞进4千万个纸杯

but I was able to put 410,000. That's what 410,000 cups looks like.

但是我可以装下41万个 这就是41万个纸杯的样子

That's 15 minutes of our cup consumption.

而这仅仅是我们在15分钟内用掉的纸杯的数量

And if you could actually stack up that many cups in real life,

如果在生活中你真的能把41万个纸杯码起来

that's the size it would be.

那将会是这么大

And there's an hour's worth of our cups.

一小时内用掉的纸杯量就会是这么大

And there's a day's worth of our cups.

这是每天用掉的纸杯量

You can still see the little people way down there.

你仍然能看到下边有几个人 他们是这么小

That's as high as a 42-story building,

这相当于42层楼高

and I put the Statue of Liberty in there as a scale reference.

我把自由女神像放进来 作为体积参考

Speaking of justice, there's another phenomenon going on in our culture

说到正义 在我们的文化中有另外一个现象

that I find deeply troubling, and that is that America, right now,

令我感到十分不安 那就是现今的美国

has the largest percentage of its population in prison

有着最大数量的监狱在押人员比例

of any country on Earth.

比世界上任何一个国家都要高

One out of four people, one out of four humans in prison

全世界每4个在押犯人中就有1个

are Americans, imprisoned in our country.

是关押在我们国家的美国人

And I wanted to show the number.

我想把这个数目告诉大家

The number is 2.3 million Americans were incarcerated in 2005.

2005年有230万美国人在押

And that's gone up since then, but we don't have the numbers yet.

这个数目还在持续上升 但我们还没有更新的数据

So, I wanted to show 2.3 million prison uniforms,

那么我想展示230万套犯人服

and in the actual print of this piece,

把这幅作品印出来以后 我们会看到

each uniform is the size of a nickel on its edge.

每一套犯人服就像一枚5美分硬币的边缘那么小

They're tiny. They're barely visible as a piece of material,

简直是太小了 几乎看不出这是一件有质感的东西

and to show 2.3 million of them required a canvas

但我却无法把230万套犯人服都放在同一张画布上

that was larger than any printer in the world would print.

因为世界上没有任何一台打印机能打印出如此巨大的一幅画

And so I had to divide it up into multiple panels

所以我不得不把它们分成很多块

that are 10 feet tall by 25 feet wide.

高度是10英尺(约3米）宽度是25英尺（约7米6）

This is that piece installed in a gallery in New York --

这幅作品陈列在纽约的一家画廊里

those are my parents looking at the piece.

这两个人是我的父母 他们正在看这幅作品

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Every time I look at this piece,

每次我看到这件作品的时候

I always wonder if my mom's whispering to my dad,

我总觉得我妈妈应该是在跟我爸爸说

"He finally folded his laundry."

他终于知道洗完衣服要叠好放起来了

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I want to show you some pieces now that are about addiction.

现在我想给你们看一些令人上瘾的东西

And this particular one is about cigarette addiction.

这一幅是关于烟瘾的

I wanted to make a piece that shows the actual number of Americans

我想创作一幅作品能够展示

who die from cigarette smoking.

死于吸烟的美国人的实际数量

More than 400,000 people die in the United States every year

每年有超过40万美国人

from smoking cigarettes.

死于吸烟

And so, this piece is made up of lots and lots of boxes of cigarettes.

因此这幅作品是由很多很多的烟盒组成的

And, as you slowly step back,

如果你慢慢退后从远处看的话

you see that it's a painting by Van Gogh, called "Skull with Cigarette."

你能看到这是梵高的一幅作品 名叫“叼香烟的骷髅头”

It's a strange thing to think about, that on 9/11,

想来也怪 9/11惨剧发生的时候

when that tragedy happened, 3,000 Americans died.

有3000名美国人丧生

And do you remember the response?

你们还记得我们当时的反应吗？

It reverberated around the world,

其影响波及全球

and will continue to reverberate through time.

而且会在很长时间内延续下去

It will be something that we talk about in 100 years.

这件事我们在今后的100年里都会提及

And yet on that same day, 1,100 Americans died from smoking.

但是就在同一天 1100名美国人死于吸烟

And the day after that, another 1,100 Americans died from smoking.

之后的一天内 又有1100名美国人死于吸烟

And every single day since then, 1,100 Americans have died.

从那天起的每一天里 都有1100人死去

And today, 1,100 Americans are dying from cigarette smoking.

就在今天 仍有1100个美国人因为吸烟而丧命

And we aren't talking about it -- we dismiss it.

但我们从来不讨论这件事 我们把它草草打发了

The tobacco lobby, it's too strong.

烟草公司的游说太强了

We just dismiss it out of our consciousness.

我们把吸烟的危害完全排除出意识之外

And knowing what we know about the destructive power of cigarettes,

即使我们知道香烟的巨大危害

we continue to allow our children, our sons and daughters,

我们仍然允许我们的孩子 儿子和女儿们

to be in the presence of the influences that start them smoking.

继续遭受吸烟的危害

And this is what the next piece is about.

接下来这一幅作品是

This is just lots and lots of cigarettes: 65,000 cigarettes,

很多很多香烟 总共6万5千支香烟

which is equal to the number of teenagers

这个数字等同于这个月

who will start smoking this month, and every month in the U.S.

以及每一个月在美国开始吸烟的青少年的数量

More than 700,000 children in the United States aged 18 and under

在美国 每年有超过70万18岁或更小的孩子

begin smoking every year.

开始吸烟

One more strange epidemic in the United States

在美国有另外一种更奇怪的"传染病“

that I want to acquaint you with

我想让你们了解一下

is this phenomenon of abuse and misuse of prescription drugs.

那就是滥用处方药的现象

This is an image I've made out of lots and lots of Vicodin.

这幅作品里是很多很多的维柯丁

Well, actually, I only had one Vicodin

事实上 我只有一片维柯丁

that I scanned lots and lots of times.

我把它扫描了很多很多遍

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And so, as you stand back, you see 213,000 Vicodin pills,

站远一点你可以看到这是21万3千片维柯丁

which is the number of hospital emergency room visits

这个数量是美国每年

yearly in the United States,

由于滥用和误用止痛药剂

attributable to abuse and misuse of prescription painkillers

和镇定药剂而导致的

and anti-anxiety medications.

医院的急诊人次

One-third of all drug overdoses in the U.S. --

在美国三分之一的药物过量

and that includes cocaine, heroin, alcohol, everything --

包括可卡因 海洛因 酒精 所有（你能想到的）

one-third of drug overdoses are prescription medications.

三分之一的药物过量都是处方药

A strange phenomenon.

这是个奇怪的现象

This is a piece that I just recently completed

这幅作品我近期才完成

about another tragic phenomenon. And that is the phenomenon,

是关于另一种可悲的现象

this growing obsession we have with breast augmentation surgery.

就是我们对隆胸手术越来越迷恋

384,000 women, American women, last year

去年有38万4千名美国妇女

went in for elective breast augmentation surgery.

去做隆胸手术

It's rapidly becoming the most popular high school graduation gift,

这迅速成为最受欢迎的高中毕业礼物

given to young girls who are about to go off to college.

送给那些即将步入大学的女孩子的礼物

So, I made this image out of Barbie dolls,

于是我用芭比娃娃创作了这幅作品

and so, as you stand back you see this kind of floral pattern,

如果你站远点 会看到这种像花瓣一样的图案

and as you get all the way back, you see 32,000 Barbie dolls,

如果你站到很远 你会看到3万2千个芭比娃娃

which represents the number of breast augmentation surgeries

这等同于美国每个月做的

that are performed in the U.S. each month.

隆胸手术的数量

The vast majority of those are on women under the age of 21.

绝大部分是21岁以下的女性

And strangely enough, the only plastic surgery

更有趣的是 在所有整容手术中只有另外一种 比隆胸更受欢迎

that is more popular than breast augmentation is liposuction,

那就是吸脂手术

and most of that is being done by men.

而大部分接受吸脂手术的是男性

Now, I want to emphasize that these are just examples.

现在我只想强调一点 之前这些仅仅是一些例子

I'm not holding these out as being the biggest issues.

我并不是要把它们作为最严重的问题特别提出来

They're just examples.

这些只是普普通通的例子

And the reason that I do this, it's because I have this fear

我之所以要这样做 是因为我恐怕

that we aren't feeling enough as a culture right now.

我们并没有感觉到这就是我们现有的文化

There's this kind of anesthesia in America at the moment.

当今的美国社会对这些现象已经麻木不仁了

We've lost our sense of outrage, our anger and our grief

我们已经丧失了愤慨 气愤和悲痛感

about what's going on in our culture right now,

这些情感原本应该源于我们现有的种种文化现象

what's going on in our country,

源于我们的国家里所发生的一切

the atrocities that are being committed in our names around the world.

源于以我们的名义在世界各地实施的暴行

They've gone missing; these feelings have gone missing.

但是这些情感完全丧失了 完全丧失了

Our cultural joy, our national joy is nowhere to be seen.

我们的文化满足感我们的国家满足感完全看不到了

And one of the causes of this, I think,

我觉得原因之一就是

is that as each of us attempts to build this new kind of worldview,

我们每个人都在试图建立所谓新型世界观

this holoptical worldview, this holographic image

一种完全视觉的世界观 一种全息的形象

that we're all trying to create in our mind

我们所有人都在努力建立这种观念

of the interconnection of things: the environmental footprints

这种事物内部的相互联系 比如我们购买的商品

1,000 miles away of the things that we buy;

在1000英里(约1600公里）以外产生的生态足印

the social consequences 10,000 miles away

或者是我们作为消费者做出的日常决定

of the daily decisions that we make as consumers.

对1万英里远（约1万6千公里）的地方产生的社会效应

As we try to build this view,

当我们试图建立这种观念

and try to educate ourselves about the enormity of our culture,

试图让我们认识到我们文化的博大

the information that we have to work with is these gigantic numbers:

我们需要处理这些天文数字的信息

numbers in the millions, in the hundreds of millions,

这些数字是以百万 以亿为单位的

in the billions and now in the trillions.

甚至是以十亿 以万亿为单位的

Bush's new budget is in the trillions, and these are numbers

布什的新预算是万亿级的 这些数字

that our brain just doesn't have the ability to comprehend.

我们的大脑根本没有能力理解领会

We can't make meaning out of these enormous statistics.

我们搞不清楚这些天文数字意味着什么

And so that's what I'm trying to do with my work,

这也是为什么我要创作这些作品

is to take these numbers, these statistics

我要把这些数字和数据

from the raw language of data, and to translate them

从原始的数字资料翻译成

into a more universal visual language, that can be felt.

一种全人类都能理解的视觉语言 才能被我们感受到

Because my belief is, if we can feel these issues,

因为我相信如果我们能感受到这些问题

if we can feel these things more deeply,

如果我们能更深刻地体会到这些问题

then they'll matter to us more than they do now.

它们才会与我们更加密切相关

And if we can find that,

如果我们能认识到这些问题

then we'll be able to find, within each one of us,

我们就能从每一个人自身找到答案

what it is that we need to find to face the big question,

来面对这个最关键的问题

which is: how do we change?

那就是：我们该如何改变？

That, to me, is the big question that we face as a people right now:

对我来说 这就是我们这个民族现在面临的最大的问题

how do we change? How do we change as a culture,

我们该如何改变？我们的文化该如何改变？

and how do we each individually take responsibility

我们每一个人该如何负起责任？

for the one piece of the solution that we are in charge of,

对我们力所能及的每一点改变负责？

and that is our own behavior?

对我们自己的行为负责？

My belief is that you don't have to make yourself bad

我认为你在看待这些问题的时候

to look at these issues.

不必感到内疚或自责

I'm not pointing the finger at America in a blaming way.

我并不是在指责或责怪美国（文化）

I'm simply saying, this is who we are right now.

我只是在说 我们现在就是这个样子的

And if there are things that we see

如果我们发现我们的文化中

that we don't like about our culture,

有些东西是我们不喜欢的

then we have a choice.

那么我们还可以做出选择

The degree of integrity that each of us can bring to the surface,

当面对这个问题时 我们每一个人能坚持多少正直的良知？

to bring to this question, the depth of character that we can summon,

当我们面对“该如何改变”这个问题时

as we show up for the question of how do we change --

我们究竟能在多大程度上保留本真？

it's already defining us as individuals and as a nation,

这正在定义着我们每一个人 定义着我们整个民族

and it will continue to do that, on into the future.

这定义还将持续下去 直至未来

And it will profoundly affect the well-being, the quality of life

它会极大地影响数十亿人的福祉

of the billions of people

和他们的生活质量

who are going to inherit the results of our decisions.

而他们要承受的正是我们今天做出的种种决定的后果

I'm not speaking abstractly about this,

我并不是在抽象地谈这些问题

I'm speaking -- this is who we are in this room,

我是在说 在这个会堂里就座的我们 就是这个样子的

right now, in this moment.

就在此时 就在此刻

Thank you and good afternoon.

谢谢 祝大家今天下午愉快

(Applause)

掌声