WEBVTT

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This drawing is my first examination
of the site of the projection.

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This is the statue,

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standing on a pedestal.

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That was very important for me

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to imagine how the statue can be
animated with a projection.

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[Krzysztof Wodiczko: Monument for the Living]

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People always gather in front of monuments.

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There are events, protests.

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Sometimes we sit on their shoulders,
wave flags.

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We paint them with new narrative.

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Those monuments, they witnessed events before--

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some of them, major events.

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We want the monuments to observe and record,

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monitor what we do today,

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again.

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For so many years,
I've been trying to give a voice,

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or amplify the voice that is not heard,

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or even silenced.

--I saw many dead or dying children.

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--It was horrible.

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--They jumped in, not knowing that it was
poisoned, not knowing it was radiated.

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There are more than seventy million refugees,

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people who are forced to
leave their home countries

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because those countries are engaged in wars--

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mostly civil wars.

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In Madison Square Park,
there are four other monuments.

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This one is the most prominent.

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And this one is definitely
related to the Civil War.

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We don't really have monuments to refugees.

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[VOICE FROM THE PROJECTION]
--I left my parents.

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--I left my mom,

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--and my siblings,

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--without even saying goodbye.

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--I left the way you see me.

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[ANOTHER VOICE FROM THE PROJECTION]
--So ten years, we were in the situation

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--of sleeping in a tent,

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--waking up,

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--feeling afraid the entire day,

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--and not being able to do
anything with your life.

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[ANOTHER VOICE FROM THE PROJECTION]
--It was torture.

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--There was no hope for better life.

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--Nineteen years of my youth, my life,
was taken away.

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[WODICZKO]
To actually see a refugee speaking,

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it's a very rare opportunity for the public.

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[VOICE FROM THE PROJECTION]
--It was hard for me, leaving my child.

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--If anyone can imagine leaving a child behind...

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--I don't think anyone would imagine leaving
their child behind for even a day or two.

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--I have to leave my child behind me
for ten years.

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--Ten years!

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[WODICZKO] In order to live with
such traumatic memories,

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speaking, communicating it with others,

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it's very important.

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For those who work with trauma,

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they know very well
that there is nothing more painful

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than the overwhelming experience
that is not communicated and shared.

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Once it's shared,

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it opens the path to healthier life
with traumatic memories.

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So this is my general approach towards monuments.

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We have to help them to be useful for the living,

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making them relevant to us

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so we can build a future--

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the better future--

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maybe the future in which some of those monuments,

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like war memorials,

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will never need to be built,

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because there will be no wars

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and no refugees.