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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 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 '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 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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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)