Paul Rucker: The symbols of systemic racism -- and how to take away their power
פול ראקר: סמלים של גזענות מערכתית ואיך לנשל אותם מכוחם
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.
לסימון עבדים כרכוש.
הן מראות מעשי לינץ'.
that attended these lynchings,
שבאו לאירועי הלינץ',
that portray black people as criminals
ומתארים שחורים כפושעים
[החיה הכושית בצלם אלוהים]
when they were marked.
כשהם סומנו, אלא אפריקנים.
were going to be slaves
עם הבאתם לארה"ב ולאירופה.
my imagination when I was younger
ששבו את דמיוני בצעירותי
ראיתי אסיפות של אנשי הקק"ק,
Ku Klux Klan rallies occasionally,
מעולם לא עזב אותי.
never really left my mind.
אלא כעבור 25 שנה.
with that imagery until 25 years later.
אודות הקלאן (קו-קלוקס-קלאן),
I started researching the Klan,
had more than five million active members,
מחמישה מיליון חברים פעילים,
of the population at the time,
of New York City at the time.
neighborhood of Georgia was so busy
בשכונת באקהד שבג'ורג'יה היה כה גדול,
כדי לעמוד בהזמנות.
to keep up with orders.
כדי לעמוד בביקוש.
to keep up with the demand.
and as an artist,
to be part of my collection,
and objects tell stories,
באיכות ממש טובה.
that was really good quality.
האיכותית שהוא מחפש?
Klan robe that he's looking for?
האיכותיות ביותר באמריקה.
the best quality Klan robes in America.
you would see at any KKK rally.
שרואים בכל עצרת קק"ק.
במשי, בסאטן ובמרקמים שונים.
satins and different patterns.
I make them for young kids
לילדים וגם לפעוטות.
the Klan had in place
a hundred years ago
neighborhoods, workplaces,
בשכונות, במקומות העבודה,
that are keeping these policies in place.
לא נעשית בידי חובשי ברדסים.
the long-term impact of slavery.
ארוכת הטווח של העבדות.
with the residue of systemic racism.
עם שאריות הגזענות השיטתית:
of every single thing we do.
כל מה שאנו עושים.
segregated neighborhoods,
במקומות העבודה ובבתי הספר.
of minorities incarcerated.
של מיעוטים בכלא.
We have police brutality.
יש לנו אכזריות משטרתית.
הוא חלק מכוחה.
שמפלים אותך.
you're being discriminated against.
כדי להמחיש את זה.
in America is slavery.
Nathan Bedford Forrest,
נייתן בדפורד פורסט,
and a millionaire slave trader.
וסוחר עבדים מיליונר.
from chattel slavery --
או עבדים כרכוש, היה מטמטם.
would boggle the mind.
equalled 200 million dollars.
היה 200 מיליון דולר.
five billion dollars today.
לחמישה מיליארד דולר בימינו.
through generational wealth.
בעושר הישן.
for the entire year.
במשך כל השנה.
היתה לי התגלות.
that white supremacy is there,
of white supremacy is not the KKK,
של העליונות הלבנה איננו הקק"ק,
over me at all.
are part of our history,
כבר לא ישלטו בחיינו.
no more power over us.
and acknowledge
ונכיר בכך
of who we are as a country,
about the intentional segregation
בקשר להפרדה המכוונת
neighborhoods and workplaces.
ובמקומות העבודה שלנו.
can we actually address
נוכל באמת להתמודד
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