Andreja Pejic TW: 3月 2014

How did you begin modeling?

I was discovered working at McDonalds. I was a teenager, 16 going on to 17, growing up in a single-parent household, and an agent walked in and gave me his card. At first I thought it was a scam; there was a lot of that going on, so I didn’t take it seriously. But a few days later I looked at the website and it was actually legitimate.

怎麼被發掘當模特?

我當時在麥當勞工作。一個16快17歲成長於單親家庭的青少年。一位經紀人給了我名片，一開始我以為這是騙人的,所以沒當一回事。但之後我上網查過,才知道這家公司是合法的。

When you were younger did you ever think that you would’ve grown up to be a model?

No, I grew up in an academic household, and my mom made it very clear that the way to transcend our economic situation was to go to school and get a good job. Modeling and acting and things like that always seemed [inaccessible] and more like a luxury than a proper profession.

你有想過長大之後會做模特嗎?

沒有，我在一個學術家庭長大,而我媽很清楚表明要讓經濟情況更好就是去上學得到一份好工作。模特兒和演戲似乎不是個好選擇,它比較像是個奢侈的想法,不能當成職業。

You paved the way for the whole trend of androgynous, gender-bending models in the fashion industry. Is gender something that is important to you?

Gender shouldn’t be as important as it is. We are all human beings, and of course there are divisions between the sexes, but these days men and women share a lot of the same jobs and duties, and things don’t have to be so separate. I didn’t want to limit myself to a gender boundary. I don’t think about it all the time, if I’m a man or a woman—it’s just me. But growing up, it didn’t feel as free. As a child I was quite feminine—I played with Barbies and expressed a lot of feminine characteristics. As a child you do have that freedom, and people think it’s cute and that you’ll grow out of it, but when you start to become an adolescent, people expect you to act a certain way. You were born a boy, you have to act like a boy. It was then that I was very aware of gender. When I was 14 or 15 I realized that it just wasn’t me, to play football or do the boy stuff, and I wasn’t very good at it either. I just gave up trying to be something I wasn’t.

你開創了雌雄同體,讓gender-bending models成為時尚界的一股趨勢。性別對你來說重要嗎?

性別不應該是那麼的絕對(重要)。我們都是人類,當然兩性之間還存有分歧,但如今,男性和女性可以做同樣一份工作和職位,事事不需要如此分化。我不希望自己侷限在一個性別界線裡。我並不會老想著,如果我是一個男人或是女人-我就是我。當然在成長過程中這並不是一直都是如此。孩童時期的我,很女性化,玩芭比娃娃也表現不少女性特質。你還很小的時候,人們只會覺得你這樣很可愛。可是當你開始長大成為青少年,人們會希望你要有應該要有的樣子。你出生時是男孩,你就要像個男孩。就在那時我心裡明白到性別這件事。然後當我14或15歲時,我清楚意識到這不是我,踢足球、做些男孩的活動,這我根本不擅長。於是我就放棄了我試圖想要有,但就是沒有的東西。

When you’re modeling it’s obvious that you can project male or female characteristics depending on the shoot. Do you have a way of getting into character?

Modeling isn’t like acting. It’s less complicated, and I know that now because I just shot my first film. You definitely have to exude something and be good at that, but you don’t have to just play a man or woman, you have to be the character. Today is Debbie Harry or Marilyn Monroe. It’s about being able to reference these icons and bring that energy to the shoot.

大約是說,進行拍攝時,你可以因應拍攝需求來展現男性或是女性的特質。你有用甚麼方式來讓自己展現?
Andrej的回答是說,拍攝不像演戲。要更複雜些,他會這麼說是因為他剛完成第一部影片(電影?)。你本身要有點什麼(特質/風格)並且可以做得很好,你不是只是在扮演一個男人或女人,你本身要有特色/有你自己的風格。像是Debbie Harry 或 Marilyn Monroe。這些被引用的icons,你要把它投注在攝影裡。

Many people look up to you not only because of your role in the fashion industry but also because of the influences you have made in the LGBT community, especially for young people. Do you have any advice to those who might not fit into gender constructs?

It doesn’t matter what’s inside your pants, or [to whom] you’re attracted, it’s about what you do and bring to this world. But there are people [who] are in situations that can’t show who they really are and who have to hide it. I, luckily, don’t have to hide. I think it’s important for society as a whole to realize that there are people in between. Obviously, being in Vogue isn’t going to change social thinking, but if I share my story I hope to have an impact—just to have people be more aware.

很多人關注你,不僅是因為你在時尚界產生的效應,更因為你在LGBT產生的影響,特別是對一些年輕人。你有甚麼建議可以給不是那麼融入gender constructs的人?

不要管你的褲子裡面是什麼,或誰吸引了你。重要的是你為這個世界帶來了甚麼。不過有些人,他們不但無法做自己還得把自己隱藏起來。至於我,很幸運不需要遮掩自己。我覺得對整體社會來說,必須清楚體認到,有些人是在兩者之間。只是很顯然的,時尚無法改變社會思維,但如果分享我的故事能夠帶來什麼,我希望能有個影響-讓人們能更加瞭解。

What does youth mean to you?

I think youth means discovery; freedom, in a way. As you get older things get more complicated.

青春對你來說是什麼意思?

我想是探索和自由,在某種程度上。當你年歲漸長事情就變得更複雜。

What are you working on right now?

I just finished acting in my friend’s short film. It’s the first time I’ve acted, but I’m just trying it out. I don’t want to do anything if I’m not good at it. A lot of models eventually try acting, but I don’t want to do that unless it’s something I do well. So we’ll see. I’m also writing a book at the moment. A memoir. I’m about halfway through. Throughout my career I have kept some things to myself, and I think some of my experiences need the context of a book to really be understood. It’s a story from my perspective on my life. I may only be 21, but I have had a lot of things happen to me, and I wanted to tell those stories myself. My agent wanted me to have a ghostwriter, but I needed to write it myself, and I have a background in writing from when I was younger, so it’s actually going really well. It’s therapeutic.

最近做了甚麼工作?

我剛拍完朋友的短片。我想嘗試看看。我不想做些我根本不擅長的事。很多模特最後都決定嘗試演戲,但我不想也得朝這方向走,除非我能做得很好。所以,拭目以待囉。我現在也在寫一本書,一本回憶錄。已經寫了一半了。在我的職業生涯中,有些事情總是繞著我打轉,有些經驗需要寫成一本書,才能被理解。這是從我的生活視角寫成的故事。雖然我只有21歲,但我經歷不少事情,而我想訴說那些我的故事。我的經紀人希望是有人幫我代筆.但我需要自己動筆寫,從我還很小的時候的背景開始,實際上進行的很順利。

And finally, what is your WILD Wish?

To one day twerk on the moon.

有甚麼瘋狂的願望?

在月球上twerk。

來源

http://thewildmagazine.com/blog/andrej-pejic-living-in-between/

* twerk,一種舞蹈。從黑人社群發展出來非官方用詞的俚語,現已被正式納入字典裡。

*gender construction,基本上翻譯是性別建構。 gender是性別。 construction有建立、架構的意思。

舉例來說,像是男孩玩車子,女孩玩娃娃。這種社會給性別架構的樣貌。