The Power of an Image — and the Mind behind It | Misan Harriman | TED

翻译人员: Michelle Xu 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

There are so many strong opinions about how bad the internet has become.

关于互联网环境恶化， 有很多观点甚嚣尘上。

How it has weaponized mediocrity.

它成为了普通人的武器，

Normalized mis- and disinformation.

让传播不实信息或谣言成为常态。

But for me,

但对我来说，

the information superhighway has always been my savior.

这条信息高速公路一直是我的救星。

As a little boy,

当我还是个小男孩的时候，

I was sent from Nigeria to boarding school in the English countryside.

我从尼日利亚被送进了 英国乡村的寄宿学校。

It was like "Harry Potter" without the magic.

就像是没有魔力的哈利·波特。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It was a confusing and troubling time

对一个远离家乡、 性格敏感的小男孩来说，

for an already sensitive little boy who was far from home.

那是一段混乱而烦恼的日子。

I was more like

我更像是

an exotic animal in a petting zoo rather than a student.

宠物动物园里的一个外来动物， 而不是一名学生。

And to top it off, I'm dyslexic

更糟糕的是，我有阅读障碍，

and today what would be described as neurodiverse,

今天这被称为神经多样性。

which for me meant that the classroom was impossibly slow

对我来说，课堂节奏不可思议地慢，

and my brain was not capable of assimilating how they were teaching me.

而我的大脑根本无法接受这种授课方式。

So for a big part of my life,

因此我生命中的大部分时间

I was ashamed of my own mind.

都在为自己的心智都感到自卑。

And if I'm being honest, I was ashamed of myself.

说实话，我对自己感到自卑。

Luckily, the internet had other ideas.

所幸互联网给我带来了不同的想法。

Every time I consumed something online, my brain felt alive.

每当我在网上看了点什么时， 我的大脑就感觉被激活了。

It was an awakening of sorts.

这在某种程度上把我唤醒了。

And luckily for me,

也很幸运，

I am the right age to have discovered the internet in that very, very moment.

我在刚好合适的年纪 发现了互联网的这个作用。

So what did I start doing?

那么我开始做了什么呢？

I started realizing how my mind worked.

我开始了解我的心智是如何工作的。

How I could assimilate audiovisual experiences intensely.

我能够深度接收视听体验，

How I could name a song within the first second or the first note.

我能在一首歌的第一秒或 第一个音符蹦出来时说出歌名，

Or talk about scenes in films like I lived them.

我能够像是身临其境地 复述电影场景。

And how overwhelmingly powerful artistic experiences were for me.

艺术体验对我来说充满了无穷的力量。

This became my savior.

这成为了我的救星，

And I wanted to share it with my friends.

而我想把这些分享给我的朋友。

So pop ballads like "More Than Words" by Extreme.

比如极端乐队(Extreme)的流行民谣 《无需言语》(“More Than Words”)，

Street poetry like “Brenda’s Got a Baby” by Tupac.

比如图派克的街头诗歌《布兰达生了个 宝宝》(“Brenda’s Got a Baby”)，

Films like "The Last of the Mohicans,"

比如《最后一个莫西干人》、

"Love Jones,"

《爱琼斯》

and of course, "Cinema Paradiso."

当然还有《天堂电影院》这样的电影。

These experiences were way more than entertainment for me.

这些体验对我来说远不只是娱乐，

I was being raised by these experiences,

我还在这些体验中成长，

and I needed to share it with as many people as possible.

而我必须和尽可能多的人分享它。

So my friends would come with their hard drives,

所以我的朋友们会带着移动硬盘来我家，

and I would download and share pictures and poetry and film for them.

而我会给他们下载这些 图片、诗歌和电影。

For me, the internet had become an endless library of the extraordinary.

对我而言，互联网成为了一个 充满了无尽不可思议的图书馆。

And I didn't just have the keys to this library.

而我不只是拥有进入图书馆的钥匙，

I lived there.

我一直住在里面。

We would talk about Fela Kuti, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young.

我们谈论着费拉·库蒂(Fela Kuti)、

琼尼·米歇尔(Joni Mitchell) 和尼尔·杨(Neil Young)。

These were my heroes.

他们都是我的英雄，

These were the souls that have found the blueprint

他们的精神帮助我找到了

of how to do and win in this thing called life.

度过一生、赢得胜利的蓝图。

It also saved my mental health.

它还拯救了我的精神健康。

The dancing of Misha Baryshnikov

米哈伊尔·巴里什尼科夫 (Misha Baryshnikov)的舞蹈

was for me, like watching a perfect sunset.

在我眼里就像是观看一场完美的日落，

The voice of Sarah Vaughan was my North Star.

莎拉·沃恩(Sarah Vaughan)的歌声 是我的北极星，

And of course, the words of Pablo Neruda?

当然，巴勃罗·聂鲁达 (Pablo Neruda)的文字呢？

Well, that will always be medicine for my soul.

那永远是治愈我灵魂的良药。

So,

那么，

how did I get to be this great observer of content

我是如何从一个敏锐的内容观察者

and become an artist?

成为一名艺术家呢？

It was just sharing images.

那就是通过分享图片。

And one of the images I shared all the time was this image

我经常和别人分享的一张图片是

of Coretta Scott King.

科丽塔·斯科特·金 (Coretta Scott King)的这张照片。

This image was taken by Moneta Sleet Jr.,

这张照片由小蒙尼塔·史利特 (Moneta Sleet Jr.)所拍摄，

the first Black man to win a Pulitzer for photography.

他是第一位获得普利策奖的黑人。

This image almost didn't happen because unbelievably,

这张照片原本是不存在的， 因为难以置信的是

no Black media was invited

一开始并没有黑人媒体受邀

to photograph the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King.

报道马丁·路德·金博士的葬礼。

When Coretta Scott realized, she said,

当科丽塔·斯科特发现 这个情况时，她说：

"No one's coming into this church if Moneta Sleet is not allowed."

“如果蒙尼塔·史利特不能来参加葬礼， 那么所有人都不能进入教堂。”

And thank the heavens that he was,

感谢上帝他来了，

because it was his lens that captured the grace

因为他的镜头捕捉到了

and somehow, on an unimaginable day,

科丽塔·斯科特·金在她丈夫的 葬礼这样难以想象的一天

the strength of Coretta Scott King

展现出的优雅和力量，

on the funeral of her husband with her baby girl, Bernice, in her lap.

而她的女儿伯妮丝就趴在她的腿上。

It was this image that taught me

这张照片教会了我

that photography can be way more than wedding pics and birthday snaps.

照片远不止是婚礼或生日宴上的瞬间，

It was this image that let me know that at its best,

这张照片告诉我

photography can let us know the work that we need to do.

优秀的摄影能为我们指引该做的事。

(Applause)

（掌声）

So how did I become an actual photographer?

那么我是如何成为一名真正的摄影师的？

Well, the answer of that is love.

答案就是爱。

My wife.

我的妻子。

My wife.

我的妻子。

We fell in love together

我们相爱了，

by feeling each other’s invisible scars like braille.

像触摸盲文一样 感受彼此身上无形的伤疤。

She fell in love with all the parts of myself

她爱上了我对自己感到自卑的一切，

that I was ashamed of.

She looked beyond my anxiety, my imposter syndrome,

透过我的焦虑和自我能力否定症，

and she saw a man that maybe had a point of view himself.

她看到这个男人可能有一些自己的观点。

So she bought me a camera for my 40th birthday.

所以在我 40 岁生日的时候， 她送给了我一台照相机，

Just five years ago.

那是五年前的事。

So I have a camera now,

我有了一台照相机，

I don't know what to do with it.

却不知道能拿它来干啥。

And once again, I go online,

我又一次上网寻找答案。

and I teach myself about ISO and aperture on YouTube.

我在YouTube上自学感光度和光圈，

I teach myself about editing with Adobe Lightroom on YouTube.

学习运用Adobe Lightroom 进行图片编辑。

And there's a great beauty for someone like me

对我这样的人来说，

to be able to fail and fail in my little office, online,

能够在我狭小的办公室里 观看网上的免费教程，

watching free tutorials.

进行一次次失败的尝试， 这可真是太棒了。

This is a gift of the internet.

这是互联网的馈赠。

Everything changed when my daughter was born.

我女儿出生后，一切都变了。

You see, the thing about not loving yourself

不爱自己就是

is that when something truly great,

当孩子这样真正美好、

something celestial, like a child, comes into your life,

妙不可言的事物 出现在你的生命里的时候，

you tell yourself you don't deserve it.

你告诉自己你不配。

My daughter was premature,

我的女儿是早产儿，

and I was terrified to be the custodian

成为这颗掌上明珠的 监护人令我感到恐惧。

of something so beautifully precious.

So I hid behind my camera.

因此我把自己藏在照相机镜头后面，

And as I kept taking pictures of this little soul and as she got stronger,

当我不停地给这个小小的灵魂照相时， 当她变得越来越强壮时，

the camera and my daughter taught me how to receive love

照相机和女儿教会了我如何接受爱，

and taught me to accept

教会了我如何接受

the immense grace and privilege of being a father.

成为父亲的极大的恩赐和荣幸。

This was the most important moment in my photographic journey.

这是我摄影生涯中最重要的时刻。

Two years later, in 2020, George Floyd was killed.

两年后的 2020 年，乔治·弗洛伊德 (George Floyd)被杀害。

And all of us saw that because of the power of social media.

强大的社交媒体让我们 所有人都看到了这个新闻。

And this time we refused to look away.

这一次我们拒绝逃避。

I looked to my wife and I said, “I have run out of tears.”

我看着我的妻子说： “我的眼里已经流干了。”

And she said, "Look to your camera."

她说：“看看你的照相机。”

And I took my camera to the streets of London,

我带着照相机走上了伦敦街头，

not knowing if I would photograph five people or 5,000.

不知道我将会给五个人 还是五千个人拍照。

And I was able to observe

我得以见证

one of the greatest civil rights movements in our lifetime.

我们一生之中最伟大的民权运动之一。

The global protests after the death of George Floyd

乔治·弗洛伊德死后爆发的全球抗议

is something none of us would have expected.

超出了我们所有人的想象。

And my lens was there.

而我的镜头就在那里。

One morning I woke up and I couldn’t open my phone

一天早上当我醒来时， 我无法打开手机

because I had so many notifications.

因为我收到了太多的通知信息。

The son of Coretta Scott King,

科丽塔·斯科特·金的儿子，

Martin Luther King III,

马丁·路德·金三世，

had somehow come across one of my images and posted it on his Twitter.

不知从哪儿看到我拍的一张照片， 并把它发布在了他的推特上。

And then the world discovered me.

这下整个世界发现了我。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Millions of people saw these images and now, unbelievably,

数百万人看到了这些图片， 难以置信，

British “Vogue” came calling,

英国版《Vogue》打来了电话，

and they commissioned a then-unknown photographer

他们委托我这个彼时籍籍无名的摄影师

to shoot the September issue of British "Vogue" 2020.

为 2020 年 9 月刊的 英国版《Vogue》进行拍摄。

And in doing so, I became the first Black man

这样，我成为了第一位

to shoot any cover for British "Vogue."

给英国版《Vogue》杂志 拍摄封面的黑人摄影师。

(Applause)

（掌声）

It took 104 years to get to my cover.

等了 104 年才轮到我的封面。

Since then, I've had this extraordinary career

从那以后，我开启了这份神奇的工作，

photographing amazing humans, amazing moments.

拍摄各种神奇的人们和神奇的瞬间。

But beyond all the glitz and all the glamour,

但在所有这些浮光魅影之外，

it is really important for me

对我而言真正重要的是

to recognize the intentionality

明白决定我的镜头应该看向哪儿的

and the empathy of where my lens must look.

意图性和同理心。

The world is burning right now

这个世界正在燃烧，

and we cannot pass each other by like ships in the night.

我们不能像黑夜中行驶的 两艘船一样无声地擦肩而过，

So my lens has to look to where voices need to be lifted.

所以我的镜头需要看向 那些需要大声疾呼的地方。

I recently have become an ambassador for Save the Children.

最近我成为了英国救助儿童会的大使，

And I went to Somaliland to cover the famine,

我去了索马里拍摄 笼罩着非洲之角的饥荒

the hunger crisis that is in the Horn of Africa.

和饥饿危机。

These brave people are suffering because of climate change,

这些勇敢的人们饱受气候变化的折磨，

something that they add very little to.

而他们对气候的影响微乎其微。

Many of the children are born into a hellscape

许多孩子出生在炼狱般的地方，

that is not of their making.

而这并非由他们自己所造成的。

1.6 million children are on the verge of acute malnutrition.

一百六十万儿童濒临急性营养不良。

And I want my images to let you know

我希望我的这些照片能够让你知道，

that you cannot say you did not know.

让你不能再说你不知道了。

So I ask you to use whatever levers of power that you have,

我呼吁大家利用所有你能调动的力量，

at dinner parties, on your social media,

无论是晚宴中还是社交媒体上，

speak to those that can do something about it

如果你自己做不到，

if you cannot yourself.

那就告诉你身边有能力的人。

I will finish by saying this.

最后我想说，

Do not be afraid to take the road less traveled.

不要害怕走那条较少人走过的路，

Wear your vulnerability with pride.

骄傲地带着你的脆弱前行，

It is what makes us human.

正是它使得我们成为人类。

This age of perceived perfection,

看起来完美的时代

it's over.

已经结束。

Very few of us are OK, and that's OK.

我们中很少人是OK的， 而这本身就是OK的。

And to the parents and teachers

那些在照看拥有不同心智孩子的 家长和老师们，

that are looking after children with different minds,

please let them know about the power

请让他们知道

and possibility of their minds.

他们心智的力量和可能性。

Because they may have the answers

因为他们也许有办法

that will allow all of us to look toward the horizon together.

能够让我们一起看向地平线。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）