The Timeless, Ancient Language of Art | Wangechi Mutu | TED

68,741 views ・ 2023-05-22

TED


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翻译人员: Skylar Cy 校对人员: suya f.
00:04
I believe art is an ancient language
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我相信艺术是一个古老的语言
00:07
that we use to communicate with each other
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我们通过它彼此交流,
00:11
into the future.
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走向未来。
00:13
A year ago,
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一年前,
00:14
I took a magnificent journey with a friend.
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我和一个朋友踏上了一次壮丽的旅行。
00:17
We went to see some prehistoric art.
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我们去看了一些史前艺术。
00:21
We went deep into the desert of Niger
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我们深入尼日尔的沙漠
00:23
to look for art that had been created tens of thousands of years ago.
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去寻找在几万年前的艺术。
00:29
The journey was filled with long conversations,
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旅途充满了长谈,
00:34
Tuareg music
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图阿雷格人的音乐,
00:35
and our whimsical shadow dances,
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我们诙谐的影子舞,
00:38
and lots of laughter.
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和许多欢笑。
00:40
As we drove deep into the Sahara,
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当我们深入撒哈拉沙漠时,
00:43
we found delicate drawings scratched into the gray rock faces,
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我们找到了雕刻在岩石面上精美的图画,
00:47
art made at a time when the Sahel was filled with people and their cattle,
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他们被创造时,许多人 和家畜定居在萨赫勒,
00:55
full of lakes and forests and home to hippos and giraffes.
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那里曾经到处是湖泊和森林, 是河马和长颈鹿的栖息地。
01:01
We saw engravings of characters made with intricate detailed patterns,
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我们看到了动物的雕刻, 它们错综复杂的图案表明,
01:05
a sign that whoever had carved them knew one day they would be seen and admired.
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雕刻家知道它们会被后人看到并欣赏。
01:12
These ancient voices from the past spoke of the wealth and the bounty that existed,
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这些来自过去的古老声音述说了 曾经的财富和丰盛,
01:18
showing the importance of making, recording and representing ourselves.
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展现了塑造,记录, 和表达自己的重要性。
01:24
Art is that ancient language
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艺术是门古老的语言,
01:27
that we've been using for longer than written text.
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我们使用文字之前
01:31
We've left messages for each other using art.
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就使用艺术彼此传递信息了。
01:36
Messages that travel across the expanse of time and culture,
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这些信息穿越时间,跨越文化,
01:41
reminding us where we come from.
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提醒我们来自何处。
01:44
As long as I can remember, I've been making art
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从我有记忆开始,我一直在创造艺术,
01:47
and I've always made art about women.
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一直在创造和女人有关的艺术。
01:50
I've created figures with female bodies
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我创造了有女性身体的人物,
01:53
that sometimes look like pregnant creatures
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有时候看起来像是怀孕了,
01:56
or wounded and then repaired women.
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有时候又像受伤后被修复的女人。
01:59
I’ve made hybrid humans and even fierce feminine machines.
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我创造过混合人类, 甚至凶猛的女性机器。
02:06
All to show how the female body is a powerful sight
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这些作品都表明,女性身体 是一种强有力的影像,
02:11
onto which culture expresses its feelings of worthiness,
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可以表达某种文化对价值,
02:15
of desire or distaste,
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对欲望或厌恶,
02:18
of divinity or decrepitude,
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对神性或衰老,
02:21
of belonging or loss.
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对归属或失丧的不同情感。
02:24
The images I make,
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我创造的图像,
02:26
like the ones I saw carved on those ancient desert rocks,
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和我在那些古老的沙漠 岩石上看到的图像一样,
02:29
are essentially the representation
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本质上象征着
02:32
of the presence of the female in all of us.
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我们每个人里面女性的存在。
02:40
Growing up in Nairobi in the 1970s,
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我在1970年代的内罗毕长大,
02:44
Kenya had every appearance of a happy, wholesome, modernized country.
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那时的肯尼亚看起来像是一个幸福的, 健康的,现代化的国家。
02:50
We had fought, reclaimed and celebrated our independence
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我们反抗英国专制的统治,
02:55
from a tyrannical British rule.
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从他们那里夺回了 我们的独立,并为此庆祝。
02:58
But there were and there still are old skeletons and colonial traumas
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但直到今天,肯尼亚依然有
03:03
rattling in our closets.
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殖民留下的精神创伤和旧骨架。
03:07
When I was ten years old, whilst our second president was in office,
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我十岁时,我们第二任总统在任,
03:11
there was an attempted and failed coup.
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肯尼亚发生了一次失败的政变。
03:15
The president behaved increasingly paranoid and authoritarian,
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总统越来越多疑和专制,
03:20
and he placed restrictions on all types of freedoms of expression.
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他严格限制了了任何类型的表达自由。
03:26
People began to disappear.
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人们逐渐开始消失。
03:29
Journalists. Preachers. Artists. Teachers.
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记者,传道人,艺术家,教师,
03:33
Even my relatives who are vocal about the government began to vanish.
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甚至我那些批评政府 的亲戚,都开始消失。
03:39
Kenyan people were rendered invisible, small and silent.
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这让肯尼亚人变得无形,弱小,无声。
03:47
And I wanted to get out.
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我想离开那里。
03:51
And I did, through my mind,
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我的确离开了,在精神层面,
03:53
by creating art and imagining places I could go
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通过创造艺术,想象我可以去的地方,
03:56
where I could communicate freely and fearlessly.
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在那里,我可以自由地,无畏地交流。
04:02
Within a few years' time, I found myself in New York
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短短几年后,我到了纽约,
04:05
and though I immediately felt far and removed from my country,
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虽然我立刻感觉到自己离家乡的距离,
04:10
my mind remained clear and determined
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我的思想仍然清晰坚定,
04:14
because I'd carried inside of me the language of my ancestral home.
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因为在我里面有我家乡的语言。
04:19
The cacophony of this big new city was disorienting at first.
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大城市的嘈杂一开始让我不知所措。
04:23
It was unlike dusty green Nairobi.
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这跟内罗毕可不一样。
04:26
But with time, I found my creative rhythm,
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但我渐渐地找到了创造性的节奏,
04:30
gathering all manner of pictures and knickknacks,
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收集了各样的图片和摆设,
04:33
some sentimental, others unfamiliar,
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有一些有情感连接,有一些对我很陌生。
04:37
collecting discarded objects, old pictures, even letters.
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我还收集了被丢弃的物品, 老照片,甚至信件。
04:41
I cut and assembled them,
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我裁剪并组合它们,
04:43
and as I glued them together, I put myself together.
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当我把它们粘在一起时, 也把自己组合起来了。
04:48
Slicing out pictures from magazines and books
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我将在街上找到的杂志
04:52
found on the streets of the city,
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和书籍里剪下图片
04:53
I transformed them into large paintings
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组合成大的图画,
04:57
with figures that were disjointed but whole,
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这些图案虽然脱节,但也完整,
05:01
distorted, but strangely beautiful.
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虽然扭曲,但也有着异样的美。
05:05
I stuck these fragments into imaginary environments
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我把这些碎片放入虚构的环境,
05:07
that seemed frightening and violent,
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这些环境看起来又可怕又暴力,
05:10
but always alluring and otherworldly.
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但永远有诱惑力,超脱世俗。
05:14
It was my way of creating order and grace,
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这是我创造秩序和优雅的方式,
05:17
a way to remember who and where I'd come from.
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用以纪念我是谁,从哪里来,
05:21
Mending and healing in order to triumph.
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通过修复和治愈获得成就。
05:26
After harvesting so much paper
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在收获这么多纸张,
05:29
and producing so, so many collages,
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制作这么多拼贴画之后,
05:33
I felt it was time to step back and let go.
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我觉得是时候放手了。
05:37
Time to purge and shred this excess paper
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是时候清洗和粉碎这些过量的纸张,
05:40
and these materials that I'd collected for years.
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以及我多年来收集的材料。
05:44
And I did.
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于是我就这么做了,
05:47
Turning it all into a dark, thick paper clay,
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把它们变成厚厚的,深色的纸浆,
05:52
which I used to create my first large sculpture,
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用来做我第一个大型雕塑,
05:57
a reclining woman with open arms and her eyes facing forward,
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一个躺着的女人, 双臂分开,双眼向前,
06:01
a figure who could see a new beginning on its way,
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一个看得见新开始的人,
06:04
titled "She's Got the Whole World in Her."
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雕塑称作 “她拥有整个世界”。
06:10
As I visited and returned from my childhood home,
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我拜访了童年的家,
06:13
I came back with all types of rocks and branches,
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从那里带回来了各式各样的石头和树枝,
06:18
pots and beads,
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陶器和珠子。
06:20
and each shell, each bone, each feather I found,
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每一个我找到的贝壳,骨头,羽毛,
06:23
I used in the work,
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我都用在作品中,
06:25
weaving back that deep connection to my home soil.
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找回我和家乡土壤的连接。
06:29
I sculpted these giant earth queens
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我雕刻了这些巨大的地球女王,
06:34
and placed the small mementos inside of them,
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在每一个雕塑里面放置了小纪念物,
06:37
archiving my memories and experiences with family and friends.
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将我和家人朋友们的记忆归档。
06:45
Our bodies once carried all of our art.
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我们的身体曾经携带着我们所有的艺术。
06:49
Our bodies are our oldest museums.
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我们的身体是最古老的博物馆。
06:52
I made these sculptures to represent our fractured and remade histories
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通过这些雕塑,我展现了 我们断裂并重建的历史,
06:57
and our connection to each other and our red mud.
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以及我们和彼此,和土壤的连接。
07:01
Each of them a portrait of the resilience and the diversity of African women
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每一个雕塑都展现了 非洲女人的韧性和多样性,
07:07
formed from these particles of mother continent,
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她们由祖国大陆的颗粒组成,
07:11
shaped like old trees,
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她们的形状像古树,
07:14
shaped like my sisters and my grandmothers,
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像我的姐妹们,像我的祖母们,
07:17
like anthills and women friends,
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像蚁冢,像女性朋友,
07:20
like the coral reef and the Great Rift Valley.
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像珊瑚礁,像东非大裂谷。
07:25
Shaped like me.
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像我。
07:27
I gave them large elaborate feet
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我给了她们精致的大脚,
07:31
so they could stand steady, strong.
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这样她们才能稳定的,强健的站立。
07:36
As I spent more time reconnecting with this home I'd come back to,
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当我花更多时间和 我的家乡重新建立联系后,
07:40
I conjured up more supernatural characters,
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我创造了更多超自然的人物,
07:44
this time in bronze.
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这次使用青铜。
07:47
Like my smooth, shiny water woman,
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其中一个是我那光滑的,锃亮的水女人,
07:50
a version of the mythical nguva of East African lore,
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她是东非神话中的人鱼,
07:54
a creature with the power to delight us, to instruct or destroy us,
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一个可以愉悦我们, 指示我们,毁灭我们的生物,
07:58
who speaks directly to sea creatures and the water itself.
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她可以和海洋生物对话,和水对话。
08:03
I created another sea goddess
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我创做的另外一个海洋女神
08:05
and named her "MamaRay,"
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名为 “母鳐”,
08:08
with mystical shell eyes
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她有神秘的贝壳眼睛,
08:10
that see into the past and know the future,
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能看到过去及未来,
08:13
with wings so wide they could carry us across the ocean.
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她宽大的鳍可以带我们跨越海洋。
08:18
And then next I created a great woman crocodile
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接下来我做了一个女鳄,
08:24
with striped armor,
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有着条纹铠甲,
08:26
like long words cut into her body
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好像有长字刻入她的身体一般,
08:28
to remind us of our land, our land that remembers us.
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让我们回想起我们的土地, 这片记得我们的土地。
08:34
In 2018, the Metropolitan Museum of Art invited me to their first commission ever
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在2018年,大都会博物馆 邀请我参加他们第一次委员大会,
08:40
to create new sculptures that would sit in the building's facade,
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去做一些新雕塑,放在建筑外立面
08:45
these niches that had remained empty for over a hundred years.
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空了一百多年的壁龛里。
08:50
I created four seated deities.
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我做了四个坐着的神灵。
08:54
All wearing golden crowns of light,
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她们都戴着金色的王冠,
08:56
robed in rippling bronze garments made to reflect the sun.
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穿着为反射阳光所设计的波纹状青铜衣。
09:03
The first with a bright disk over her mouth,
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第一个雕塑嘴前放着明亮的圆盘,
09:06
the second with a golden mirror on her eyes,
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第二个眼睛上放着金镜子,
09:10
the third with a radiant crown,
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第三个戴着明亮的的冠冕,
09:13
and the fourth with a circular light beam on her forehead.
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第四个头顶金光。
09:17
These works stood for tranquility,
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这些作品代表安宁,
09:20
dignity, Africanity and the feminine divine.
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尊严,非洲及女性的神圣。
09:26
A few months after they were placed in the niches,
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在她们坐入壁龛数月后,
09:30
the entire world descended into a pandemic.
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整个世界陷入了疫情。
09:34
And it's during this time, in this crisis,
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这段时间里,这次危机中,
09:37
that the serene guardians continued shining expressions of hope and calm
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这些安详的守护者们不断的发着光,
09:43
and healing for us all.
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带给我们希望,平静,和医治。
09:45
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
09:51
This journey I began by drawing and sculpting
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通过描绘和塑造,我开始了这个旅程,
09:55
many different versions of women like myself
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许多和我相似的不同版本的女性
09:58
is what allowed me to move forward.
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带着我前进。
10:00
It's what gave me permission to re-examine my home and my family
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这个旅程让我远距离的
10:04
and my country from a distance.
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重新审视我的故乡,家庭,和国家。
10:06
It's making art that continues to remind me
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艺术创作不断的提醒我
10:10
what freedom I was so desperately seeking.
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我拼命寻找的自由到底是什么。
10:12
For me, for us,
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提醒我,提醒我们,
10:14
for anyone who works for our rightful place in the future.
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提醒任何在未来为 我们争取应得地位的人。
10:18
And even if we begin our journeys at first to escape,
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就算我们为了逃避而启程,
10:22
the return path is always inside of us.
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回归的路永远在我们里面。
10:24
If we want to exist in the homes we thought we never belonged,
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若想活在我们认为自己不归属的家乡,
10:29
we have to create new powerful images for them.
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我们需要为它们创造新的,强大的形象。
10:34
When I'm working, I know I'm using this ancient language
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我在工作时,我知道 我在运用这个古老的语言,
10:39
and I know that I'm where this language was born.
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也知道我在这个语言的发源地。
10:43
I know we have all been related for millions of years
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我知道几百万年来,我们一直都有关系,
10:46
and that we need to take care of this one vessel
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我知道我们需要照顾好这个载体,
10:49
that connects us to our roots,
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它将我们与我们的根连接,
10:51
our roots in the Rift Valley,
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我们在大裂谷的根
10:53
or the Sahara, or the shores of the Nile,
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在撒哈拉的根,在尼罗河畔的根,
10:56
somewhere on African soil where we left traces of our first journeys.
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我们最早在非洲土地上留下的根。
11:02
Art is that ancient language that we've always used
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艺术是我们一直用来 提醒自己的古老语言,
11:05
to remind us where we're from and where we're heading.
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告诉自己我们来自何处,去到何方。
11:08
I hope to always make art that empowers women,
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我希望一直做赋予女性能力的艺术,
11:12
that points us to the future,
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将我们指向未来的艺术,
11:15
to Africa, where art originated.
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指向非洲,艺术的发源地。
11:20
Thank you.
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谢谢。
11:21
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
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