The Encyclopedia of Invisibility — A Home for Lost Stories | Tavares Strachan | TED

翻译人员: kate shi 校对人员: suya f.

I really love lost stories.

我真的很喜欢失传的故事。

So I'm from this very tiny, hot island

我来自加勒比海中部 一个非常小又炎热的海岛，

in the middle of the Caribbean called Nassau.

叫做拿骚。

Has anyone here ever heard of it?

在座的各位有人听说过么？

Yeah?

嗯？

I distinctly remember the place being so small that I could land there,

我清晰的记得 当我降落到那个小地方

shout from the airport,

只要我从机场喊一声，

my brothers would somehow hear me

我的兄弟们就会听见

and they would know to come and pick me up.

并知道要来接我回家。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

The North Pole, however,

然而北极

is an inhospitable frozen tundra that's incredibly difficult to get to.

却是一片不易到达 又不易居住的冰冻苔原。

Not to surprise any of you,

并不想让你们感到惊讶，

but I am the first Bahamian presumably to set foot on the North Pole.

但我想我是第一个 踏上北极的巴哈马人。

(Applause)

（掌声）

It's true.

真的

(Applause)

（掌声）

Now, if you were to speak to my parents about what I was like growing up,

现在，如果你跟我的父母 说起我的成长经历，

they would tell you that I was mischievous, precocious,

他们会告诉你，我是个 调皮捣蛋又早熟的孩子，

the kid devouring all the information

说我是个收集所有信息的孩子，

and never, ever taking a no for an answer.

并永远都不会把 “不 “当做答案。

But if you got them into a secret room,

但如果你把他们带到一个密室里，

they would also tell you that I was a pain in the butt and a troublemaker.

他们也会告诉你我是个 讨厌鬼和麻烦制造者。

Early in my practice,

在我执业初期，

it was important for me to create an artwork

创作出一件

that would share the sense of vastness

能与我的社区分享我在北极 体验到的广袤感的艺术品

that I'd experienced in the Arctic with my community.

是一件非常重要的事。

So on a second expedition,

于是，在第二次探险中，

I decided to move this 4.5-ton piece of ice

我决定把这块重达 4.5 吨的冰

from this frozen Arctic river

从冰封的北极河里

and bring that to my neighborhood.

搬到我家小区。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'd work with a team of scientists and engineers,

我会和一个团队的科学家和工程师

and together we would install this block of ice

在这个华氏 100 度的日子里，

in a solar-powered freezer unit outside of my childhood classroom

把这块冰安装在

on this 100-degree day.

我儿时教室外面的 太阳能冷冻装置里。

Now, the response was a mix of excitement and wonder.

人们的反应是既兴奋又惊奇。

The folks in my neighborhood had never really seen ice quite like this.

我家附近的居民从未见过这样的冰。

It was my way of telling the story of our deep connections to each other.

这是我讲述我们之间深厚联系的方式。

Now, while all of this was going on,

现在，当这一切发生的时候，

I realized I was having a separate journey of discovery.

我意识到自己正在进行 一次独立的发现之旅。

It was on this expedition where I began to hear whispers

正是在这次探险中，

of an unknown polar explorer named Matthew Henson.

我开始听到一个名叫 马修-亨森的无名极地探险家的传闻。

Now, up until this point,

在此之前，

the fact that the first person to set foot in the North Pole

第一个踏上北极点的人 竟然与我长得如此之像，

looked like me, had me aghast.

这让我大吃一惊。

I mean, come on, look at this guy.

我的意思是，拜托，看看这个家伙。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

In 1909, Henson, and fellow explorer Robert Peary,

1909 年，亨森和同为 探险家的罗伯特-皮尔里

had done what no others had done up to that point.

完成了一项前无古人的壮举。

They had made it to the North Pole.

他们到达了北极点。

Now, this son of a sharecropper had managed over seven Arctic expeditions.

这个佃农的儿子 已经完成了七次北极探险

Yet his massive, massive contributions became lost to history.

然而他的巨大贡献却被历史遗忘了。

And I ain't really cool with that.

我对此很不爽。

So since this lightning-bolt moment,

所以自从这个顿悟时刻以后，

my work became a quest to tell these lost stories.

我的工作就变成了 探索与讲述这些失传的故事。

And to tell all of you the truth, if you really pay attention,

实话告诉大家，如果你真的留心观察，

you start to see these lost stories all around you.

你会发现这些失落的故事就在你身边。

And when you find them,

当你找到它们时，

you realize that they can speak with a very loud mouth.

你会发现它们说话的声音非常大。

Now growing up, my grandparents' house was the place

在我成长的过程中，我的祖父母家

where my entire Bahamian family would meet

是我的整个巴哈马家庭

every Sunday for Sunday dinner.

每周日聚餐的地方。

Now I've got a big family, so,

我有一个大家庭，

13 aunts and uncles and 52 cousins would all squeeze

所以13 个叔叔阿姨 和 52 个表兄弟姐妹

into my grandparents' tiny home.

都会一起挤在我祖父母的小房子里。

And for sure the house was small,

房子的确很小，

but it was a sanctuary filled with life and love.

但它却是一个充满生机和爱的圣地。

Now, I believe I was around 12 years old when my grandfather came home

我想，大概在我12 岁的时候，

with the first set of encyclopedias in our community.

我的祖父带着我们社区 的第一套百科全书回家了。

This was a big deal.

这可是件大事。

My uncles, who were some big dudes,

我的那群都是大块头的叔叔们

would never let us get close to these books without wearing gloves, guys.

是绝不会允许我们 不戴手套就靠近这些书的，

Can you all believe that?

伙计们，你们相信吗？

I couldn't wait for my turn to fan through these pages.

我迫不及待地想要翻阅这些书页。

And as I would fan through these pages,

而当我真正翻阅这些书页的时候，

the questions would arrest me, like,

我被一些疑问困住了，比如，

who wrote all of this,

这些都是谁写的，

and how did they write all of it?

他们又是怎么写的？

And was everything in the entire universe arrested in these pages?

这些书页中是否逮捕了整个宇宙的秘密？

And as I would fan through this book further,

而当我进一步翻阅这本书时，

a question really hit me.

一个问题深深地触动了我。

No one from my community was in these pages,

这些书页中没有我们社区的人，

and if they were missing, then what else was lost?

如果他们丢失了， 那么还有什么也被遗忘了呢？

So years later,

于是多年以后，

with infinite more questions,

带着无数的问题，

I decided to make my own encyclopedia.

我决定自己做一本百科全书。

It's called the Encyclopedia of Invisibility.

这本书叫做《隐形百科全书》。

This is a 3,000-page,

这是一本皮面装订的书，

leather-bound book

共 3000 页，

that has over 17,000 entries.

有 17000 多个条目。

And yes, it was difficult,

是的，这很困难，

but I read every single last one of them.

但我读完了每一篇。 你们可能已经猜到了，

Now, the first entry that I wrote was on,

you guys may have guessed it, the explorer Matthew Henson,

我写的第一个条目 是关于探险家马修-亨森的，

the one that I learned about my first Arctic expedition.

这是我第一次北极探险时了解到的。

From there, I thought, who and what else should be included in these pages?

从那时起，我就想，还有哪些人、 哪些事应该被写进这些书页？

I would make list after list of things that were excluded from history

我会列出一份又一份 被排除在历史之外的事物清单

and research them.

并对其进行研究。

At first, it was just me alone.

起初，只有我一个人。

Then I needed an assistant, and then I needed an entire team.

后来我需要一个助手， 再后来我需要一整个团队。

And together we would comb the globe looking for people,

我们一起走遍全球，

places and things that were mostly untold.

寻找那些大多不为人知 的人，地方和事物。

Now this is arranged alphabetically,

这本书是按字母顺序排列的，

and the organizing principle was to try to include the kinds of things

编排原则是尽量

that you may not ever learn at school.

收录你在学校可能学不到的东西。

So let's look at this entry on the Mino.

让我们来看看这个关于米诺的条目。

It's a powerful, all-female military regiment

这是一支的强大来自达荷美王国

from the Kingdom of Dahomey, which is current day Benin.

（即今天的贝宁）的全女性军团。

Then there's an entry on Robert Smalls.

然后是关于罗伯特-斯摩尔斯的条目。

Now the great Robert Smalls freed himself from slavery,

伟大的罗伯特-斯摩尔斯摆脱了奴隶制，

overtook a bunch of Confederate ships,

得到了一群邦联的船只，

freed a whole bunch of slaves from those ships,

从这些船只上解放了一大批奴隶，

and then majestically marched on

然后雄赳赳气昂昂地成为了

to become one of the first Black congressmen in the United States.

美国第一批黑人国会议员之一。

Then there's an entry on rhinoceros.

然后是关于犀牛的条目。

Did any of you know there was a woolly rhinoceros?

你们听说过有毛犀牛吗？

No?

没人吗？

Then there's an entry on Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

然后是关于罗塞塔-塔普修女的条目

Sister Rosetta Tharpe is the mother of all rock and roll.

罗塞塔-塔普修女是摇滚乐之母。

Then there's an entry on B-movies.

然后是关于B级片的条目。

Now who can't handle a high-quality B-movie?

谁能不接受一部高质量的 B 级片？

Then there's an entry on the great John Edmonstone,

这里有一个伟大的 约翰-埃德蒙斯通的条目，

the man that taught a very young Charles Darwin

那个教会了年轻的查尔斯-达尔文

the art of taxidermy and a whole lot more.

标本制作艺术的男人， 还有其他很多条目。

To come to think of it, the only entry missing from this book

仔细想想，这本书中 唯一缺少的条目就是解释

is an entry that explains how you can put

为什么你可以把

a full pair of socks into a dryer

一整双袜子放进烘干机，

and somehow only one foot comes out.

但烘干完却只出现了一只。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now, after 12 years,

十二年后的今天，

a limited edition of this encyclopedia was published as an artwork

这本限量版百科全书 作为艺术品出版，

occupying these territories between sculpture, book and installation.

占据了雕塑、书籍 和装置间的一席之地。

And this experience truly convinced me

这次经历让我真正相信，

that there are an infinite amount of lost stories to be told,

还有无穷无尽的失传的故事有待发现、

and there's no real limits to how they can be told.

而传述的方式也没有真正的限制。

So in 2014,

因此，2014 年，

I decided to create an artwork

我决定创作一件艺术品

in honor of astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence.

来纪念宇航员罗伯特-亨利-劳伦斯。

Now, Robert Lawrence was the first Black astronaut.

罗伯特-劳伦斯是第一位黑人宇航员。

He never realized his dream of space

他的梦想永远无法实现了。

as he was killed in a flight accident in 1967 at the age of 32.

1967年，他在一次飞行 事故中丧生，年仅32岁。

Now, my goal was to honor Robert

我的目标是纪念罗伯特，

and to bring his profound legacy to space.

并将他的深厚的影响力带到太空。

Now, those of you who know anything about space,

对太空有所了解的你们都知道，

you would know that that's easier said than done,

这事说起来容易做起来难，

because after all, there ain’t a bunch of island folks

因为毕竟没有哪怕一群岛国人

walking around with rockets in their back pockets.

会背着火箭到处走。

So step one was to find someone with a rocket.

所以第一步就是找到一个有火箭的人。

And who has rockets?

谁有火箭呢？

The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell.

太空探索技术公司的负责人 格温-肖特维尔。

And then I had to figure out who was going to be

然后我得找出谁是会和我一样

as interested in these lost stories as I was.

对这些失落的故事感兴趣的人

The head of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell.

太空探索技术公司的负责人 格温-肖特维尔。

We were introduced by the LA County Museum

在洛杉矶县博物馆的引荐下，

and after four years of rigorous testing, planning and sculpting,

并且经过四年的严格测试、规划和雕刻，

a satellite was produced in honor of Robert.

一颗纪念罗伯特的卫星诞生了。

Now, this satellite was made of gold,

这颗卫星是用黄金制成的，

and it was important for me

并且对我来说，

to have this satellite follow an ancient Egyptian tradition of storytelling

重要的是让这颗卫星 遵循古埃及讲故事的传统，

by imbuing the essence of a person into a container.

将一个人的精髓注入进一个容器中。

Now, this satellite was called Enoch,

这颗卫星被命名为 “以诺“（Enoch），

after the story of a mythological character

取自一个由于与众神同行的距离如此之近

whose walk with the gods was so close

以至于他从未死去

that he never, ever died.

的神话人物的故事，

On November 30, 2018,

2018 年 11 月 30 日，

Enoch blasted into space

“以诺” 在 SpaceX 猎鹰 9 号火箭的腹部升入太空，

in the belly of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit.

进入轨道。

Almost 50 years after his passing,

罗伯特-亨利-劳伦斯逝世近50年后，

the legacy of Robert Henry Lawrence is celebrated amongst the stars.

他的遗产在星空中得到了颂扬。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Now, I've spent my entire life being obsessed with these lost stories.

我一生都痴迷于这些失传的故事。

Can these lost stories hold the key that unlocks our sense of belonging?

这些失传的故事能否成为 开启我们归属感的钥匙？

Lost stories definitely need to be told.

失落的故事肯定是需要被讲述的。

Not in small ways.

不是以微小的方式，

But in ways that match the ambitions of the people that we speak for.

而是要符合我们所代表的人们的野心。

Now, I know all of you have access to lost stories,

我知道你们所有人 都有机会接触到失传的故事，

so please,

所以

let's not let them be lost forever.

请不要让它们永远失传。

Even if that means you're called the pain in the butt

哪怕这意味着你会被称为讨厌鬼

or a troublemaker.

或麻烦制造者。

And thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）