Paul Rucker: The symbols of systemic racism -- and how to take away their power
保羅·魯克爾: 如何剝奪象徵系統性種族主義的權力
Paul Rucker creates art that explores issues related to mass incarceration, racially-motivated violence, police brutality and the continuing impact of slavery in the US. Full bio
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to mark slaves as property.
作為財產的標誌，
受私刑絞死的明信片。
that attended these lynchings,
把黑人描繪成罪犯，
that portray black people as criminals
when they were marked.
were going to be slaves
另一個物品或是圖像
my imagination when I was younger
Ku Klux Klan rallies occasionally,
偶然會見到三 K 黨的集會。
never really left my mind.
with that imagery until 25 years later.
我才重新注視三 K 黨的圖像。
I started researching the Klan,
had more than five million active members,
使它擁有超過五百萬名活躍成員，
of the population at the time,
of New York City at the time.
三 K 黨長袍工廠十分忙碌，
neighborhood of Georgia was so busy
to keep up with orders.
來滿足訂單。
以應付大量的需求。
to keep up with the demand.
收集者和藝術家，
and as an artist,
to be part of my collection,
and objects tell stories,
that was really good quality.
好品質的三 K 黨長袍，該怎麼辦？
Klan robe that he's looking for?
the best quality Klan robes in America.
美國最高品質的三 K 黨長袍。
you would see at any KKK rally.
傳統三 K 黨長袍。
satins and different patterns.
緞子以及不同的質料。
I make them for young kids
包括年幼的孩子，
the Klan had in place
已達到的效果，
a hundred years ago
neighborhoods, workplaces,
社區和公共場所，
that are keeping these policies in place.
the long-term impact of slavery.
奴隸制度的長期影響。
with the residue of systemic racism.
種族主義系統的殘渣，
of every single thing we do.
segregated neighborhoods,
種族隔離社區、
of minorities incarcerated.
遠高於其他少數族裔的人口比例。
We have police brutality.
you're being discriminated against.
in America is slavery.
Nathan Bedford Forrest,
內森‧貝弗‧福雷斯
也是一個經營奴隸貿易的百萬富翁。
and a millionaire slave trader.
from chattel slavery --
是我心中揮之不去的陰影。
would boggle the mind.
就已產生了大約兩億美元的價值。
equalled 200 million dollars.
five billion dollars today.
through generational wealth.
代代相傳下來。
大米以及煙草。
for the entire year.
我每週製作一件長袍。
我已經頓悟。
that white supremacy is there,
of white supremacy is not the KKK,
over me at all.
are part of our history,
no more power over us.
使它們不再能威懾我們了。
and acknowledge
系統性的種族主義，
我們國家的根基。
of who we are as a country,
來應付有種族隔離意圖的事情，
about the intentional segregation
neighborhoods and workplaces.
社區和工作場所。
can we actually address
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Paul Rucker - Visual artist, cellistPaul Rucker creates art that explores issues related to mass incarceration, racially-motivated violence, police brutality and the continuing impact of slavery in the US.
Why you should listen
Paul Rucker is a visual artist, composer, and musician who often combines media, integrating live performance, sound, original compositions and visual art. His work is the product of a rich interactive process, through which he investigates community impacts, human rights issues, historical research and basic human emotions surrounding particular subject matter. Much of his current work focuses on the Prison Industrial Complex and the many issues accompanying incarceration in its relationship to slavery. He has presented performances and visual art exhibitions across the country and has collaborated with educational institutions to address the issue of mass incarceration. Presentations have taken place in schools, active prisons and also inactive prisons such as Alcatraz.
His largest installation to date, REWIND, garnered praise from Baltimore Magazine awarding Rucker "Best Artist 2015." Additionally, REWIND received "Best Solo Show 2015" and "#1 Art Show of 2015" from Baltimore City Paper, reviews by The Huffington Post, Artnet News, Washington Post, The Root and The Real News Network. Rucker has received numerous grants, awards and residencies for visual art and music. He is a 2012 Creative Capital Grantee in visual art as well as a 2014 and 2018 MAP (Multi-Arts Production) Fund Grantee for performance. In 2015 he received a prestigious Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant as well as the Mary Sawyer Baker Award. In 2016 Paul received the Rauschenberg Artist as Activist fellowship and the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, for which he is the first artist in residence at the new National Museum of African American Culture.
Residencies include MacDowell Colony, Blue Mountain Center, Ucross Foundation, Art OMI, Banff Centre, Pilchuck Glass School, Rauschenberg Residency, Joan Mitchell Residency, Hemera Artist Retreat, Air Serembe, Creative Alliance and the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center in Bellagio, Italy. In 2013-2015, he was the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Artist in Residence and Research Fellow at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He was most recently awarded a 2017 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a 2018 TED Fellowship and the 2018 Arts Innovator Award from the Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation and Artist Trust. Rucker is an iCubed Visiting Arts Fellow embedded at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Rucker's latest work, Storm in the Time of Shelter, an installation of 52 custom Ku Klux Klan robes and related artifacts, is featured in the exhibition "Declaration," on view at the new Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia through September 9, 2018.
Paul Rucker | Speaker | TED.com