Adong Judith: How I use art to bridge misunderstanding
Adong Judith: Hoe ik misverstanden overbrug met kunst
Adong Judith uses art as a vehicle to drive social change and trains aspiring makers to create art that dares to ask serious questions. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
die over sociale veranderingen vertelt,
who tells social-change stories,
touch and move us.
ons raken en ontroeren.
and teach us to empathize.
en leren ons empathisch te zijn.
of disadvantaged groups,
van benadeelde groepen.
away from social, political theater
weghoudt bij sociaal-politiek theater
by former Ugandan president, Idi Amin.
voormalige Oegandese president Idi Amin.
I am breaking the silence
dat ik de stilte doorbreek
conversations on taboo issues,
over kwesties waarop een taboe rust,
is the rule of thumb.
and challenge our minds to think,
en ons uitdagen om na te denken.
is its often one-sided nature
is dat het vaak erg eenzijdig is.
voor de mening van een ander,
who see issues differently
sellout or plain stupid.
gehersenspoeld, verraders of gewoon stom.
only in different fields.
maar in verschillende onderwerpen.
"stay in your truth" is misleading.
'blijf bij je waarheid' misleidend.
you believe is wrong
dat ze het fout hebben,
avenues of conversations.
gespreksrichtingen uitsluiten.
to touch, humanize
om te beroeren en menselijk te maken
to the conversation table
tot een gesprek aan te zetten
will not magically solve all problems.
alle problemen niet magisch zal oplossen.
om platformen te creëren
to create avenues
many of humanity's problems.
om veel problemen op te lossen.
'Silent Voices',
slachtoffers van de Noord-Oegandese oorlog
of the Northern Uganda war
en Joseph Kony's LRA-rebellen,
and Joseph Kony's LRA rebel group,
political leaders, religious leaders,
met politieke leiders, religieuze leiders,
and transitional justice leadership
en leiders voor overgangsgerechtigheid
voor slachtoffers van oorlogsmisdaden --
of justice for war crime victims --
in the history of Uganda.
in de geschiedenis van Oeganda.
allemaal kan bespreken.
cover them all right now.
om hun mening te geven
to sit at the table
the big injustice they suffered
dat ze is aangedaan
of the war perpetrators.
van oorlogsplegers faciliteerde.
acknowledged the victims' pain
de pijn van de slachtoffers
ze dingen zo hadden aangepakt.
behind their flawed approaches.
that has stayed with me
tour of the play,
van het toneelstuk in Noord-Oeganda
rebellensoldaat van Joseph Kony.
feeling disappointed,
dat ik teleurgesteld zou weggaan
inappropriate laughter.
voortkwam uit schaamte
was a laughter of embarrassment
of his own embarrassment.
van zijn eigen onbehagen.
in de acteurs op het podium
of his past actions.
van zijn acties uit het verleden.
a more powerfully uniting truth
verenigende waarheid ontdekken
would be shocked at my ignorance
geshockeerd door mijn onwetendheid
zoals lasagne bijvoorbeeld.
like lasagna, for instance.
about malakwang,
richer and fuller individuals.
waren we rijker dan voorheen.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Adong Judith - Playwright, filmmakerAdong Judith uses art as a vehicle to drive social change and trains aspiring makers to create art that dares to ask serious questions.
Why you should listen
Founder and artistic director of Silent Voices Uganda, a nonprofit performing arts company, Adong Judith creates art that provokes meaningful conversation on issues often considered taboo.
Notable among her training programs is the annual Summer Theater Directors Apprenticeship, a two-tier program that combines production and training of ten aspiring theater directors. Originally only for Ugandans, Judith has opened the 2018 and future apprenticeships to aspiring theater directors across the African continent, who she believes share the same challenges in practicum gaps.
In 2018, Judith will be in residence at Illinois State University, where she will direct her 2016 social media buzz-stirring play, Ga-AD!, which explores spirituality and the place of women in Pentecostal churches. Her first social change play, Silent Voices, which she wrote after accidentally encountering the inescapable stories of war crime victims in her hometown of Gulu, developed at Sundance Institute’s Theater Lab, received its world premiere in 2012 at the National Theater of Uganda and was described by the Ugandan media as "the spiritual rebirth of theater since its decline due to political persecution of artists by the Idi Amin regime."
Adong’s plays are taught at Ivy League Universities including Dartmouth College and Princeton University, and she recently signed a contract with Methuen Publishers UK to publish Silent Voices in an anthology of Contemporary African Women Playwrights.
Adong Judith | Speaker | TED.com