How I use art to bridge misunderstanding | Adong Judith
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2018
⏱️ 5 minutes
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Summary
Director and playwright Adong Judith creates provocative art that sparks dialogue on issues from LGBTQ rights to war crimes. In this quick but powerful talk, the TED Fellow details her work -- including the play "Silent Voices," which brought victims of the Northern Ugandan war against Joseph Kony's rebel group together with political, religious and cultural leaders for transformative talks. "Listening to one another will not magically solve all problems," Judith says. "But it will give a chance to create avenues to start to work together to solve many of humanity's problems."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features director and playwright Adong Judith, recorded live at TED Global 2017. |
| 0:09.0 | I'm a writer, director, who tells social change stories because I believe stories touch and move us. |
| 0:16.7 | Stories humanize and teach us to empathize. Stories changes. |
| 0:22.6 | When I write and direct plays, I'm amplifying voices of disadvantaged groups. |
| 0:27.6 | I'm fighting the self-censorship that has kept many Ugandan artists away |
| 0:32.6 | from social political theater since the persecution of artists |
| 0:36.6 | by former Ugandan president, |
| 0:39.4 | E.D. Amin. And most importantly, I am breaking the silence and provoking meaningful |
| 0:46.3 | conversations on taboo issues where often silence is golden is the rule of thumb. |
| 0:53.8 | Conversations are important, |
| 0:56.2 | because they inform and challenge our minds to think, |
| 1:00.1 | and change starts with thinking. |
| 1:03.5 | One of my struggles with activism |
| 1:05.8 | is it's often one-sided nature that blinds us to alternative view, |
| 1:10.6 | that numbs our empathy, that makes us |
| 1:13.4 | view those who see issues differently, has ignorant, self-hating, brainwashed, sell-out, or plain, stupid. |
| 1:23.3 | I believe no one is ignorant. We are all experts only in different fields. |
| 1:30.5 | And this is why, for me, the saying, |
| 1:33.7 | stay in your truth, is misleading. |
| 1:36.5 | Because if you're staying in your truth, |
| 1:39.0 | isn't it logical that the person you believe is wrong |
| 1:41.8 | is also staying in their truth? |
... |
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