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[This talk is delivered in Spanish[br]with consecutive English translation]

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(Rayma Suprani: Speaks Spanish)

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Cloe Shasha: When I was a little girl,

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I used to draw[br]on all the walls of my house.

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(RS: Speaks Spanish)

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CS: Until one day, my mother[br]got angry and told me,

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"You can only draw on one wall.

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Don't draw on any others."

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(Laughter)

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(Speaks Spanish)

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That was the first time I experienced[br]an act of totalitarian censorship.

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(Laughter)

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(Speaks Spanish)

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But a lack of freedom[br]stimulates creativity and empowers it.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Many years have passed since my childhood,

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but throughout my formal studies,

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I found myself drawing[br]in the margins of my notebooks

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instead of paying attention[br]to my professors.

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I studied journalism in college

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with the intention of expanding[br]my communication and writing skills,

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but the only thing[br]that I felt connected to in life

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was drawing.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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I was born in a democracy,

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in a country called Venezuela,[br]which is now a dictatorship.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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For 19 years,

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I was the daily cartoonist[br]for "El Universal,"

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one of the biggest newspapers [br]in Venezuela.

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I really enjoyed translating political[br]and cultural current events into drawings.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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In the year 2014,

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I got fired from my job at the newspaper[br]over a cartoon that I drew

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alluding to the health care[br]system in Venezuela.

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I drew a flat line of a heartbeat monitor,

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but I intentionally drew[br]the heartbeat line

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in a way that resembled[br]the signature of Hugo Chavez,

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the former president of Venezuela.

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(Laughter)

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(Speaks Spanish)

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All of this happened[br]after the newspaper was bought

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by an unknown company,

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and some of us suspect

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that it was the Venezuelan government[br]who was behind that deal.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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My work as a cartoonist[br]became more and more of a nuisance

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for the dictatorship.

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They have no tolerance[br]for any freedom of expression

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or free thinking.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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After I got fired,

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I started to feel unsafe[br]in my own country.

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I received anonymous calls[br]and death threats.

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I was mocked publicly[br]on national television.

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I was eventually forced out of Venezuela,

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and I now live in Miami, Florida,

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where I am free to be[br]my own editor for my work.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A political cartoon is a barometer[br]of freedom in a country.

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That's why dictators hate cartoonists

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and try to eradicate everything[br]that involves humor

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as a mirror for social[br]and political issues.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A cartoon involves a delicate balance[br]of ideas and drawings

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that reveal a hidden truth.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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And a good cartoon is one that conveys[br]a plot of a full-length movie

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in a single frame.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A cartoon needs to communicate[br]the core of a story with its precision.

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And when it succeeds,

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its message can have the effect[br]of inoculating people

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with a dose of skepticism.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Cartoons are drawn[br]from observation and analysis.

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They are inspired by muses of mythology,

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as well as classical, modern[br]and paleolithic tales.

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(Laughter)

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When we are told that a modern-day emperor[br]is wearing new clothes,

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cartoons reveal that the emperor[br]just might still be naked.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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At one point in my career,

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I drew pigs and compared them[br]with politicians and national guards

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who were responsible for stopping[br]peaceful student demonstrations.

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One day, when I got back to my office,

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I had a letter on my desk.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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The letter was from[br]the Venezuelan Swine Federation.

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(Laughter)

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(Speaks Spanish)

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The letter said,

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"Please do not compare an animal[br]as wonderful as a pig with politicians.

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(Laughter)

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Pigs are very friendly and noble,

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they can be a great mascot,

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they make good pets

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and they provide sustenance to us[br]in the form of pork."

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(Speaks Spanish)

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I think they were absolutely right.

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I didn't draw any more pigs,

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but I did keep drawing politicians.

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(Laughter)

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A cartoon travels[br]on an information highway,

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which seems like it has multiple lanes,

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but in reality, all of these lanes

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lead to a binary response[br]of either positivity or rage.

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"I like it" or "I don't like it."

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Those are the only responses

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that govern democratic thinking[br]on the internet.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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We have lost the space for nuanced debate,

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we have no time,

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so we simply respond[br]with approval or disdain,

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and we let algorithms take over.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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But a cartoon is born[br]from a space of deep, nuanced thinking.

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Creating a good cartoon[br]involves repeated failures,

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draft after draft.

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And a cartoonist must shed[br]their own taboos

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to spark a conversation,[br]rather than a confrontation,

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through their work.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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In the year 2013, President Chavez died,

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and I had to think about what to draw[br]as the cartoon of the day

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at "El Universal."

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I was personally happy[br]that he had passed away,

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because I thought[br]that the end of his power

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would potentially bring our country[br]closer to freedom and better times.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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But there were many other people[br]who were mourning the death of Chavez,

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so there was a divided[br]sentiment in Venezuela.

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Some were celebrating,

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and others were crying[br]at the loss of their leader.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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I felt stuck,

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I really didn't know what to draw[br]in this historic moment.

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And I knew that I couldn't allow[br]my happiness to seep into my work,

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that I should take the higher road[br]and respect people's grief.

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So what could I draw?

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(Speaks Spanish)

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I spent many hours drafting[br]and throwing out papers.

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My editor called me and said

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everything was late[br]for that day's newspaper

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and asked me when I'd be done.

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It was in the middle of the night[br]that the idea came to me.

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And we then published a cartoon

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that represented[br]a historical moment in time.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A fallen king chess piece in red.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A good cartoon has a lot of power.

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It can generate action and reaction.

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That's why a cartoonist must[br]exercise their power responsibly,

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showcasing the truth

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and drawing without[br]the fear of consequences.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Having an opinion has a cost,

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and in some countries, that cost is high.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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In Venezuela,

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many young people have been killed[br]for protesting peacefully.

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There are men and women[br]who are stuck behind bars

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as political prisoners.

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So over the years,

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I've drawn the faces of imprisoned women,

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because I don't want them[br]to be forgotten by the community.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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This year at an event[br]called El Foro Penal,

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which is a criminal forum

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where a group of lawyers do pro bono work

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for Venezuelan political prisoners,

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a young woman approached me and she said,

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"I was imprisoned,

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and then you drew my face and my story.

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It's because of that drawing[br]that people knew who I was.

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Your cartoon helped me survive[br]my days in prison.

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Thank you."

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(Speaks Spanish)

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This was a moment that meant a lot to me,

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because I had found a way to collaborate

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with the memories[br]of my country and its people.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Last year, I started making[br]drawings about immigration.

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I drew my own world, my fears,

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my suitcase, my roots

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and everything that I had[br]to leave behind in Venezuela.

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I also drew my joy[br]in the face of this new opportunity

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as an immigrant in the United States.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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From there, I worked[br]on a series of drawings

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that represented the experience[br]and psychology of immigration.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Being an immigrant[br]is like moving to another planet.

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At first, you don't understand[br]anything about your new world.

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There are new codes, a new language

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and unfamiliar tools[br]you need to learn how to use

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in order to adapt to your new life.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Being an immigrant is the closest thing[br]to being an astronaut

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who landed on the moon.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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Over time, that series of drawings[br]became a traveling exhibition,

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called "I, Immigrant."

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And the exhibition traveled[br]to multiple cities,

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including Miami, Houston,[br]Madrid, Barcelona,

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and we're hoping for more places.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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The show has become[br]a meeting space for the diaspora,

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for people to gather and recognize[br]their shared experiences of suffering

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that come with immigration.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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What I want these drawings to convey

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is that an immigrant is not a criminal.

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An immigrant is a person[br]whose life has been broken.

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A person who has very likely[br]been separated from their family

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under inhumane conditions.

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Who has been forced to leave their country[br]in search of a better life.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A drawing can be a synthesis of a place,

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a universe, a country or a society.

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It can also represent[br]the inner workings of someone's mind.

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For me, drawing cartoons[br]is a form of resistance.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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A cartoon is like a Rosetta stone.

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If we throw it into outer space,

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a future alien would be[br]able to know with certainty

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that in the past,

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we once had a civilized world[br]with free thinking.

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(Speaks Spanish)

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That one wall that my mother gave me[br]the freedom to draw on feels infinite.

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And it's for that reason[br]that I am still drawing.

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Thank you very much.

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(Cheers and applause)