Meet our friend Bob. We met on a wintery night in the company of the members of the New York Indoor Gardening Society.
这位是我们的朋友鲍勃。在一个冬天的夜晚，我们在纽约室内园艺协会聚会上相识。
And one of the regulars was this charismatic gentleman studying the wonders of carnivorous plants.
这位魅力非凡的先生作为协会的固定成员之一，正在研究肉食性植物的奇妙之处。
We were there looking for collaborators for an art project looking at modern humans' belonging to nature.
而我们当时正要为研究现代人对自然的归属感这样一个艺术项目寻找合作人。
We couldn't resist slipping a little note in Bob's pocket to say we'd love to hear from him.
我们不由向鲍勃的口袋里塞了一张小纸条，上面说，我们期待他的回复。
And the next day, he called us and excitedly proclaimed how, "This is not a time in my life when I want to lay around in bed."
第二天，他给我们打了电话，特别激动地说，“我可不想把这么美好的时光用来赖床。”
And the next week, we were all sitting on a J train to Forest Park in Queens.
于是第二周的一天，我们一起坐在了皇后区森林公园的观光火车上。
Bob has worked for decades in New York's fashion photography industry,
鲍勃在纽约时尚摄影领域已经工作了几十年，
and he had to be replaced by three people when he eventually chose to move on to new adventures.
在他决定要开启全新的冒险历程之时，需要三个人才能完全接替他的工作。
Bob agreed to collaborate with us on the condition that we wouldn't mess with the style that he had taken many decades to perfect.
鲍勃同意了我们的合作请求，但前提是我们不可以扰乱他坚持了数十年，不断完善的风格。
So we promised to do just that, and only added a few pine needles.
我们向他保证了这一点，但只是向其中加了一点松针。
You might be wondering why the two of us were trimming Bob's pine needle beret in the park in the first place.
你们可能早就开始好奇，为什么我们两个会出现在公园，为鲍勃修剪他的松针贝雷帽？
We met a few years prior, when I was investigating on the internet,
其实，我们两个人早几年就认识了，那时候我还在网上做研究，
looking for a collaborator for an art project looking at modern humans' relationship to nature.
为探究人与自然关系的艺术项目寻找合作人。
So I do what people do, I go to Google and I type in three words: "Norway," "grannies" and "photographer."
我就像大部分人一样，打开谷歌，输入了三个关键词：“挪威”、“老奶奶”和“摄影师”。
And I click on the number one search result, which was Karoline Hjorth here.
然后我点击了第一个搜索结果，就是我旁边的卡洛琳·约斯。
I had just put out a book about Norwegian grandmothers.
我刚出版了一本书，是有关挪威的老妇人。
And initially, we teamed up to look at how natural phenomena were explained through human form.
最开始我们两个合作，是为了研究自然现象是如何通过人体形式解释的。
And we started investigating folktales in a small coastal city in Norway.
后来我们开始研究挪威一个沿海小城市的民间传说。
We reasoned that the older the local interviewee, the closer we would be to these talking rocks of these stories.
我们发现当地受访者的年纪越大，我们就越能贴近这些会讲故事的石头们。
Agnes, for example, is Norway's oldest parachuting granny. Her latest jump was at 91.
比如说艾格尼斯，她是挪威最年长的跳伞奶奶。她最近一次跳伞时已是91岁高龄。
And this portrait is an homage to the fabled north wind often featured in Nordic folk tales.
这张照片向北欧神话中虚构出来的北风表达了敬意。
We met another fabled character called Lyktemann, on a bog just outside of Oslo.
我们在奥斯陆外的一个沼泽，还遇到了一个虚构人物，叫做里克特曼。
Lyktemann's presence as mysterious lights has been recorded for centuries in many different cultures under as many different names,
里克特曼的出现，就像几世纪以来被记载下来的众多文化中被冠以各种不同名字的神秘之光，
like Joan the Wad, will-o'-the-wisp or the man of the lantern.
比如火把女神琼、鬼火或是提灯人。
The contemporary view or the contemporary explanation to these lights is that they are the product of ignited marsh gas.
对于这些说法，现代观点或是现代解释则认为他们只是被点燃的沼气。
The more adventurous view is that a character appears when the fog hangs low, and there are unwary travelers about who have lost their path.
更大胆的说法认为，在浓雾散去之后会有这样一个人物浮现出来，同时还有一些不够警惕的旅客逐渐迷失了道路。
He is known for being quite a mischievous character, never quite revealing the true nature of his intentions.
他是个出了名的反面角色，从未展露出内心真正的意图。
And as Bengt is an expert in astronavigation, an ex-submarine captain
而本格特作为天文导航领域的专家、前潜艇长，
and the previous chief mate on board the tall ship Christian Radich, Bengt was the perfect personification of Lyktemann.
以及克里斯蒂安·拉蒂奇高桅横帆船上的前任大副，他绝对是里克特曼化身的不二人选。
In our initial quest of looking into the contemporary role of folklore,
我们最开始研究神话的现代意义时，
we were quickly pooh-poohed for looking into something seen as childish children's bedtime stories.
看到那些有些幼稚的孩童睡前故事，我们都会嗤之以鼻。
Even saying the word "folklore" got people looking really puzzled.
即使说到“神话”这个词，也会让人们摸不着头脑。
And it wasn't just the accent.
这可不只是因为我们的口音哦。
We even had an eighth-generation local potter state that people from this region have come up with some of this nation's best inventions,
我们还到了一个祖上八代做陶土的地方，这个地区的人创造了这个国家最棒的发明，
and they don't have time to turn rocks and wonder what is under.
但他们没有时间把每块石头都翻开，探其究竟。
This rejection was exactly what we needed to keep poking further into this subject.
像这种回绝正激发了我们继续研究这个课题的决心。
We continued to interview people about their relationship with their surroundings
在我们对于民众和周围环境的关系进行了连续的采访后，
and started wondering what's happening with people's imagination.
我们开始疑惑，人们的想象力究竟是怎么来的。
Can our relationship to nature really be explained so pragmatically, so entirely boringly,
我们与自然的关系可以被如此实际、枯燥乏味地解释出来吗？
so that a rock is just a good old straightforward rock, and a lake is just a basic wet place, entirely separate from us?
那么石头就只是一块简简单单的好看的老石头，湖泊也只是简单的一块湿地，和我们没有关联吗？
Can our surroundings really be explained to such a dull degree of rationality?
我们的环境是否真的能以这种枯燥的理性程度来解释呢？
The name of our project, "Eyes as Big as Plates," is borrowed from a folk tale.
我们项目的名字叫做《眼大如盘》，这个名字也是从一个民间传说借鉴的。
And there's one with a dog that's living beneath a bridge and another version, where there is a troll doing the same thing.
传说中有条狗住在桥下，而另外一个版本中，是一个侏儒住在桥下。
And this open-eyed and potentially risky approach to seeing the world around you
而这种以可能危险的开阔方式来看待你周遭的世界，
has become an emblem of the curiosity that guides our interactions.
已经成为了引导我们交流的一种好奇心的标志。
Serendipity is our project manager. And ideally, we meet our collaborators through random chance.
我们的项目主管就是机缘巧合。我们希望能够在随机的场合遇到我们的合作人。

In the opposite lane in the swimming pool, at the choir practice, in a noodle bar or in a Senegalese fishing harbor, as you do.
在泳池的相反泳道上，在合唱团排练的时候，在面馆，或是在塞内加尔的渔港，就像你一样。
Each image starts with a conversation, much like a casual interview.
每张照片都是以对话开始的，像是日常访谈。
And we never call these collaborators "models," as there are three authors to each image,
我们不会把这些合作人称作“模特”，每张图片都有三个作者，
all equally crucial to the realization of their portrait.
三个人对于他们肖像的体现都同等重要。
There is no age limit, absolutely anybody with an interesting lived life is more than qualified to join.
没有年龄限制，只要生活充满乐趣，任何人都可以加入。
This is Boubou. His son-in-law happened to be in this harbor when we came looking for locations.
这位是布布。我们在找地方的时候，他的女婿刚好在这个港口。
And one impromptu house visit and fish market shopping spree later, Boubou and his family all waded in a low tide with us.
在当下决定拜访他家，以及后来一同去海鲜市场大买了一番之后，布布一家和我们一同在浅滩趟水嬉闹。
A wearable sculpture is born from the conversation with each collaborator and is made from materials found in the surroundings.
和每位合作人对话之后，都会有一件可以穿戴的雕塑作品诞生，这些作品都是由当下环境中可以找到的材料制作而成。
About one third of Senegal's arable land is devoted to millet,
塞内加尔的可耕土地约有1/3都在种植小米，
an incredibly itchy-to-wear, nutritious and hardy staple with deep cultural roots.
这种植物穿在身上奇痒无比，但它营养丰富、耐寒能力强，是拥有深厚文化根基的主要作物。
This is Mane, one of the grand grandmothers of the Ndos village, a tornado of vigor and energy.
这位是梅妮，是恩多斯村的曾祖母之一，也是兼具魄力和活力的风云人物。
And she applauded to our invitation to portray her in her personal favorite crop, with which she works every day.
我们发出邀请，用她个人最爱的农作物为她做肖像，她对此大加赞赏，这些作物正是她每天工作的内容。
It's important that participation is voluntary.
自愿是参与项目的重要前提。
If you have doubts in the beginning, you will definitely regret it by the time Riitta is stuffing cold, wet bull kelp up your nose.
如果你在最开始就心存质疑，那么随着瑞塔不停地把冰冷潮湿的巨藻塞到你鼻子周围，你绝对会后悔这个决定。
Working with an analog camera means the process can be slow and physically challenging.
使用模拟摄像机，就意味着这个进程会非常缓慢，对身体也是个挑战。
The person in front of the camera might be kneeling for three hours in a freezing sleet, be bombarded by mosquitoes
相机前的人可能已经在渗骨的雨夹雪中跪了3个小时，可能被蚊子不停侵扰，
or actually, they can also be allergic to the local flora they've just been coated in.
或者他们甚至可能对他们身上满铺的这种当地植物群落过敏。
And many other things. And then, there's, of course, the elements.
还远不止这些哦。其次，还有元素。
Unpredictability is one of the main drivers that keeps this process interesting.
不可预知性是整个进程中保持趣味的一个主要原因。
For example, in Iceland, we were in operation mode, shooting for two weeks,
比如，在冰岛，我们在严谨的工作模式下拍摄了两周，
without knowing that the camera was not functioning properly. Ooh, right?
却压根儿没发现相机的设置不对劲。很遗憾吧？
And because we work with analog cameras with actual film rolls,
因为我们用的模拟相机用的是菲林胶卷，
the excitement from the shoots keeps giving until we pick up the negatives from the lab.
所以拍摄的兴奋感一直持续到了我们在工作室挑选成片的时候。
Luckily, Edda, pictured here, was one of the few that was captured on film in Iceland.
幸运的是，图片中的艾达是我们在冰岛拍摄到的少数成片之一。
Pictured here amid bubbling, steaming hot springs between two tectonic plates.
这张照片是在两个地质板块之间的一个热气腾腾的汩汩温泉中拍摄的。
Supposedly, there are these little hot spring birds that dive into these bubbles,
理论上，应该有小巧的温泉鸟冲到汩汩的泉眼中，
and according to the legend, these little birds represent the souls of the dead.
而且根据传说，这些小鸟就代表了死去的亡灵。
We have the honor of working with some of the toughest and bravest and coolest people around,
我们非常荣幸，有机会和世界各地最勇敢、最坚韧、最酷的人们合作，
and thoroughly enjoy how some of our works and portraits stomp on stereotypes about age, gender and nationality.
我们也非常享受看到我们的有些作品和肖像，冲破了人们关于年龄、性别和国籍的刻板印象。
To us, much of Western society is unnecessarily confused when it comes to the usefulness of this absolutely rock-and-roll demographic.
对我们来说，面对这种颠覆性的人口学研究的意义，西方社会的多数人都会产生本不必要的困惑。
Attitude, life experience and stamina are some of the main traits we have found amongst all our collaborators,
态度、人生历程和耐力是我们在合作人身上发现的几种主要品质，
as well as a formidable curiosity for new experiences.
同样还有对于新鲜体验的那种令人钦佩的好奇心。
We have noticed how the solitary figures in our images are increasingly viewed as representations of the age of loneliness, known as the Eremocene.
我们注意到在我们的照片中，独居者的形象是如何逐渐变成了孤独岁月的体现，也就是所谓的“孤独年代”。
We are trying to encourage a new way of participating in and communicating with our surroundings.
我们试着去鼓励一种参与到环境中并与之交流的全新方式。
There is the assumption that humans have created a new geological epoch, and we need to learn how to see what our role is in it.
有一种设想认为，人类已经创建了一种全新的地质时代，我们要学着如何看清自己处于其中的角色。
We'll be working with farmers, cosmologists, geo-ecologists, ethnomusicologists and marine biologists
我们还会和农民、宇宙学家、地球生态学家、民族音乐学家和海洋生物学家合作，
to see how art can change the way we think, act and live.
探讨艺术会如何改变我们思考、行动和生活的方式。
It's not clear who or what is the protagonist in our work, whether it's the human figure or the nature around them, and we like it that way.
我们作品中的主人公究竟是人物形象，还是他们周遭的环境，目前尚不明确，但我们喜欢这样。
Ten years and 15 countries into the project, we are not sure how, if, or when this project will end.
这个项目持续了10年，跨越了15个国家，我们不确定是否、何时，或是这个项目将以怎样的方式结束。
We have vowed to continue as long as it's fun, and we'll keep making new images and more books that explore...
我们已经发誓，只要我们仍乐在其中，就会继续下去，我们也会继续创造全新的人物，发表更多的探索书籍...
How to balance life amongst the effects of the climate crisis.
如何在气候危机的影响下平衡生活。
The writer Roy Scranton beautifully summarized how our project can be approached.
作家罗伊·斯克兰顿曾把我们这个项目的目的做了优美的总结。
"We need to learn to see, not just with Western eyes but with Islamic eyes and Inuit eyes,
“我们要学着去看，不只是用西方人的眼睛，还要用伊斯兰教徒的眼睛和伊努伊特人的眼睛，
not just with human eyes but with golden-cheeked warbler eyes, coho salmon eyes and polar bear eyes,
不只是用人类的眼睛，还要用金腮林莺的眼睛、银大马哈鱼的眼睛，和北极熊的眼睛，
and not even just with eyes at all, but with the wild, barely articulate being of clouds and seas and seas and rocks and trees and stars."
甚至不只是用眼睛，还要用狂野不羁、不加修饰的白云沧海、嶙峋怪石、葱茏草木、璀璨星河。”
Perhaps if we start seeing ourselves through coho salmon eyes, we might begin to synchronize better with our fellow flora, fauna and funga.
如果我们通过银大马哈鱼的眼睛看待我们自己，或许就可以和我们的动植物、真菌伙伴们更加协调。
To do this requires both imagination and empathy. And curiosity is at the root of both.
达成这一点，既需要想象力，也需要同理心。而好奇心是这两者的根基。
As Halvar, one of our first collaborators, said nearly 10 years ago, "If you stop being curious, you might as well be dead." Thank you.
作为我们第一批合作人之一的哈尔瓦，在大概十年前曾说过，“如果你不再感到好奇，就可能已与死亡无异。”谢谢各位。