WEBVTT

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So 24 years ago,

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I was brought to the New
Yorker as art editor

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to rejuvenate

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what had by then become
a somewhat staid institution,

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and to bring in new artists

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and to try to bring the magazine
from its ivory tower

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into engaging with its time.

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And it was just the right
thing for me to do

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because I've always been captivated
by how an image can --

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a simple drawing --

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can cut through the torrent of images
that we see every single day.

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How it can capture a moment,

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how it can crystallize a social trend
or a complex event

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in a way that a lot of words
wouldn't be able to do,

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and reduce it to its essence
and turn it into a cartoon.

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So I went to the library,

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and I looked at the first cover
drawn by Rea Irvin in 1925 --

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a dandy looking at a butterfly
through his monocle,

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and we call it, Eustace Tilley.

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And I realized that as the magazine
had become known for its, [well] --

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in-depth research and long reports,

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some of the humor had gotten
lost along the way,

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because now, often Eustace Tilley
was seen as a haughty dandy,

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but in fact,

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in 1925,

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when Ray Irvin first drew this image,

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he did it as part of a humor magazine


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to amuse the youth of the era,

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which was the flappers
of the roaring '20s.

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In the library,

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I found the images that really
captured the zeitgeist

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of the Great Depression.

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And it showed us not just
how people dressed

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or what the cars looked like,

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but also what made them laugh,

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what their prejudices were,

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and you really got a sense of what
it felt like to be alive in the '30s.

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So I called on contemporary artists,

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such as Adrian Tomine here.

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I often call on narrative artists --

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cartoonists,

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children's book authors --

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and I give them themes such as,

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you know, what it's like
to be in the subway,

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or Valentine's Day,

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and they send me sketches.

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Once the sketches
are approved by the editor,

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David Remnick,

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it's a go.

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I love the way those images

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are actually not telling
you what to think.

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But they do make you think,

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because the artist is actually --

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it's almost a puzzle;

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the artist is drawing the dots,

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and you, the reader,
have to complete the picture.

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So to get this image
on the left by Anita Kunz,

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or the one on right by Tomer Hanuka,

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you have to play spot the differences.

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And it is something that ...

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It's really exciting to see

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how the engagement with the reader ...

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how those images really capture --

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play with the stereotypes.

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But when you get it,

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it rearranges the stereotypes
that are in your head.

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But the images don't
just have to show people,

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sometimes it can be a feeling.

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Right after September 11,

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I was at a point,

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like everybody else,

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where I really didn't know how
to deal with what we were going though,

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and I felt that no image could
capture this moment,

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and I wanted to just do a black cover,

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like no cover.

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I talked to my husband,

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cartoonist Art Spiegelman,

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and mentioned to him
that I was going to propose that,

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and he said, "Oh, if you're
going to do a black cover,

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then why don't you do
the silhouette of the Twin Towers,

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black on black?"

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I sat down to draw this,

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and as soon as I saw it,

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a shiver ran down my spine

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and I realized


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that in this refusal to make an image,

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we had found a way to capture loss,

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and mourning,

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and absence.

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It's been a profound thing
that I learned in the process --

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that sometimes some of the images
that say the most

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do it with the most spare means.

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And a simple image can speak volumes.

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So this is the image
that we published by Bob Staake

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right after the election of Barack Obama,

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and captured an historic moment.

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But we can't really plan for this,

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because in order to do this,

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we have to let the artist experience
the emotions that we all feel

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when that is happening.

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So back in November 2016,

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during the election last year,

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the only image that we
could publish was this,

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which was on the stand on the week
that everybody voted.

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(Laughter)

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Because we knew somebody
would feel this --

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(Laugther)

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when the result of the election
was announced.

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And when we found out the result,

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we really were at a loss,

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and this is the image that was sent
by Bob Staake again,

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and that really hit a chord.

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Again,

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we can't really figure out
what's going to come next,

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but here it felt like we didn't
know how to move forward,

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but we did move forward,

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and this is the image that we published
after Donald Trump's election,

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and at the time of the Women's March

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all over the US.

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So over those 24 years,

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I have seen over 1,000 images
come to life week after week,

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and I'm often asked which
one is my favorite,

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but I can't pick one

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because what I'm most proud of
is how different every image is,

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one from the other.

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And that's due to the talent
and the diversity

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of all of the artists that contribute.

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And now,

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well,

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now, we're owned by Russia,

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so --

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(Laughter)

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In a rendering by Barry Blitt here,

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Eustace has become Eustace Vladimirovich Tilley.

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The butterfly is none other than
a flabbergasted Donald Trump

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flapping his wings,

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trying to figure out how
to control the butterfly effect,

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and the famed logo that was
drawn by Rae Irvin in 1925

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is now in Cyrillic.

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So, what makes me really excited
about this moment

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is the way that ...

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a free press is essential
to our democracy.

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And we can see from
the sublime to the ridiculous

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that artists can capture
what is going on --

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in a way that an artist armed
with just India ink and watercolor

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can capture and enter into
the cultural dialogue.

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It puts those artists
at the center of that culture,

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and that's exactly where
I think they should be,

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because the main thing we need
right now is a good cartoon.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)