The story of a five-year-old girl who interpreted for us.

A few years ago, Rico Washington and I collaborated on a project called "We The People," in which we photographed over 60 people who were involved in low-income buildings in New York City, commonly known as housing projects.

The girl in this photo, Ameenah, lives with her mother, Nadiyah, in the Project in Mahattan. Her mother is deaf, so their conversation is exclusively in sign language, and Ameenah is a very good signer, able to talk back to her mother with aplomb.

Even though she was only five years old at the time, her vocabulary was so large because of the many opportunities she had to communicate her mother's words to others that I felt as if I were talking to an adult. In fact, Ameenah translated our voices into sign language, and then she would properly convey it to Nadiyah. As soon as she finished her task, she returned to her childish face and Ameenah ran to the fountain.

Nadiyah laughed wildly at Ameenah's delight at the spouting water, and we laughed along with her.

数年前にリコと「We The People」というプロジェクトを共同制作し、New Yorkの低所得者ビル、通称「ハウジング・プロジェクト」に関わりのある人たちを６０人以上の方を撮影させてもらった。

この写真の女の子Ameenahはマンハッタンのプロジェクトにお母さんのNadiyahと二人暮らしだ。

彼女のお母さんは耳が聞こえないので、もっぱら二人の会話は手話である。Ameenahはそれはそれは上手に手話をあやつり、それこそお母さんへの口答えも一人前だ。

この当時まだ5歳だったのに、お母さんの言葉を他人へ伝える機会が度々あるため語彙が非常に多く、私はまるで大人と話しているような錯覚を起こしたほど。

実際にAmeenahは私たちの声を手話に通訳し、Nadiyahへきちんと伝えてくれ、その仕事が終わるとすぐに子供の顔に戻り、Ameenahは噴水まで走っていった。

噴き出す水に歓喜の声をあげるAmeenahをみてNadiyahは高々に大笑いし、わたしたちも一緒に笑った。