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So 24 years ago,

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I was brought to The New Yorker

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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

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for its 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, in 1925,

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when Rea 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 twenties.

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And 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 their 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

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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, 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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And 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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And I love the way

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those images 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 through,

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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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And I talked to my husband,
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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And 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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And 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 a 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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(Laughter)

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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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And 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, 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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And 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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You know, 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

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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)