Living sculptures that stand for history's truths | Sethembile Msezane

翻译人员: 校对人员: Yu Xie

I'd like for you to take a moment to imagine this with me.

我想让各位和我一起想象一个画面。

You're a little girl of five years old.

你是一个五岁的小女孩，

Sitting in front of a mirror,

坐在镜子前，

you ask yourself,

你问自己，

"Do I exist?"

“我存在吗？”

In this space, there is very little context,

这个空间太清静了，

and so you move into a different one,

于是你来到另一个地方，

one filled with people.

一个满是人的地方。

Surely, now you know you're not a figment of your own imagination.

当然，现在你知道 你不是自己虚构的事物。

You breathe their air.

你和他们呼吸着相同的空气，

You see them,

你看得见他们，

so they must see you.

他们也看得见你。

And yet, you still can't help but wonder:

然而，你仍会情不自禁地想：

Do I only exist when people speak to me?

我只有在和他人对话 的时候才存在吗？

Pretty heavy thoughts for a child, right?

对一个孩子来说， 这样的想法很沉重，对吗？

But through various artworks that reflect upon our society,

但是通过各种各样 可以反映社会问题的艺术作品，

I came to understand how a young black girl can grow up

我逐渐了解到一个年轻 的黑人女孩如何成长，

feeling as if she's not seen, and perhaps she doesn't exist.

觉得好像没人看得见她， 甚至是她根本不存在。

You see, if young people don't have positive images of themselves

很明显，如果年轻人 对自身没有正面认识，

and all that remains are negative stereotypes,

只有负面印象时，

this affects their self-image.

这会影响到他们的自我认知，

But it also affects the way that the rest of society treats them.

这同样也会影响 社会其他人对待他们的方式。

I discovered this

我发现这一点时，

having lived in Cape Town for about five years at the time.

已经在开普敦生活了大概五年。

I felt a deep sense of dislocation and invisibility.

我深深地感受到了 无归属和被忽视的滋味。

I couldn't see myself represented.

我看不到自己是什么样的，

I couldn't see the women who've raised me,

我看不到养育我的女人，

the ones who've influenced me,

那些影响我的人，

and the ones that have made South Africa what it is today.

那些造就今日南非的人。

I decided to do something about it.

我决定做一些事情。

What do you think when you see this?

当你看到这个时你想到了什么？

If you were a black girl,

如果你是一个黑人女孩，

how would it make you feel?

你会有什么感觉？

Walking down the street,

沿着这条路往下走，

what does the city you live in say to you?

你居住的城市对你表达了什么？

What symbols are present?

展示了什么标志事物？

Which histories are celebrated?

庆祝了什么历史事件？

And on the other hand,

从另一方面来说，

which ones are omitted?

哪些东西被省略了？

You see, public spaces are hardly ever as neutral as they may seem.

公共空间难以 像它们看起来那样中立，

I discovered this when I made this performance in 2013 on Heritage Day.

当我在2013年遗产日 演出时发现了这一点。

Cape Town is teeming with masculine architecture,

开普敦充满了阳刚的建筑，

monuments and statues,

纪念碑还有雕塑，

such as Louis Botha in that photograph.

如照片中的路易斯 博塔。

This overt presence of white colonial and Afrikaner nationalist men

这个明显存在着 白人殖民主义和民族主义的人，

not only echoes a social, gender and racial divide,

不仅反映了社会、性别和种族分化，

but it also continues to affect the way that women --

它还持续影响着女性——

and the way, particularly, black women --

特别是黑人女性——看待自己的方式，

see themselves in relation to dominant male figures

如何将自身和在公共场合占主导地位

in public spaces.

的男性联系起来。

For this reason, among others,

为此，

I don't believe that we need statues.

我觉得我们不需要雕塑。

The preservation of history and the act of remembering

历史的保存和记忆

can be achieved in more memorable and effective ways.

可以通过更值得纪念 和有效的方式实现。

As part of a year-long public holiday series,

作为年公共假日系列的一部分，

I use performance art as a form of social commentary

我用表演艺术评价社会，

to draw people's attention to certain issues,

将人们的目光聚焦到某些问题上，

as well as addressing the absence of the black female body

并弥补黑人女性

在公共纪念场合中的缺失，

in memorialized public spaces,

especially on public holidays.

特别是公共假日。

Women's Day was coming up.

妇女节就要来了。

I looked at what the day means --

我查了一下妇女节的意义——

the Women's March to the union buildings in 1956,

1956年，妇女到联合国大厦游行，

petitioning against the pass laws.

请愿反对通过的法案，

Juxtaposed with the hypocrisy of how women are treated,

并反对虚伪对待女性，

especially in public spaces today,

特别是在如今的公共场所。

I decided to do something about it.

我决定做一些什么。

Headline:

标题：

[Women in miniskirt attacked at taxi rank]

【穿着迷你裙的女性 在出租车站遭遇袭击】

How do I comment on such polar opposites?

我应该对这种事情做何评价呢？

In the guise of my great-grandmother,

我伪装成我曾祖母的样子，

I performed bare-breasted,

真空上阵，

close to the taxi rank in KwaLanga.

在瓜朗嘎出租车候车站附近。

This space is also called Freedom Square,

那里也被称为自由广场，

where women were a part of demonstrations against apartheid laws.

在那儿，女性是反对 种族隔离法示威的一部分。

I was not comfortable with women being seen as only victims in society.

我不喜欢女性仅仅 被当作社会的受害者。

You might wonder how people reacted to this.

你可能会好奇人们对此行为的反应。

(Video) Woman: (Cheering)

（视频）女：（欢呼）

Woman 2 (offscreen): Yes!

女2（画外）：太棒了！

Sethembile Msezane: Pretty cool, huh?

挺酷的，对吧？

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

So I realized that through my performances,

我意识到通过我的表演，

I've been able to make regular people reflect upon their society,

我可以让普通人反思这个社会，

looking at the past as well as the current democracy.

看看过去和现在的民主。

(Video) Man (offscreen): She's been there since three o'clock.

（视频）男（画外）： 她从三点开始就在那儿了。

男2（画外）：三点之前吧， 已经一个小时没动了。

Man 2 (offscreen): Just before three. About an hour still?

男1：是的，今天非常热。

Man 1: Yeah. It's just a really hot day.

Man 1: It's very interesting.

男1：这很有意思。

It's very powerful.

很有力量，

I think it's cool.

我觉得很酷。

I think a lot of people are quick to join a group

我认为不久就会有很多人加入她，

that's a movement towards something,

这是通往某个事业的重要一步，

but not many people are ready to do something as an individual.

但只有少数人做好了 独自行动的准备。

Man 2: So it's the individual versus the collective.

男2：所以这是个人和群体的对抗。

Man 1: Yeah.

男1：是的。

So I think her pushing her own individual message in performance ...

我认为她在表演中 传达了自身的信息——

it's powerful.

这很厉害。

Yeah, I think it's quite powerful that she's doing it on her own.

我觉得她依靠自己的力量很令人敬佩，

I'd be interested to know why she's using hair extensions as wings,

我想知道她为什么用假发作翅膀，

or whatever those things are meant to be.

或者那些东西意味着什么。

They are wings, yes?

它们是翅膀吗？

Woman 3: With her standing there right now,

女3：她现在站在那里，

I think it's just my interpretation

我的理解是，

that we are bringing the statue down

我们把那个雕塑弄倒，

and bringing up something

树立起一个

that's supposed to represent African pride, I think.

象征着非洲骄傲的东西，

Or something like that.

或者类似的东西。

Something should stand while Rhodes falls,

当罗德倒下之后 应该要有新的东西起来，

I think that's what it's saying. Yeah.

这应该就是她要表达的。

Yes. Thank you.

是的，谢谢。

Man 3: What is behind me represents the African culture.

男3：我后面的东西代表了非洲文化。

We can't have the colonialist law,

我们不应该有殖民主义法律，

so we need to remove all these colonial statues.

我们应该把这些殖民雕塑全都弄走。

We have have our own statues now,

我们现在有了自己的雕塑，

our African leaders -- Bhambatha, Moshoeshoe, Kwame Nkrumah --

我们非洲的领导人巴巴塔， 莫岁岁，夸梅·恩克鲁玛——

all those who paid their lives for our liberation.

那些为了我们的自由牺牲生命的人。

We can't continue in the 21st century,

21世纪我们不能继续那样下去了，

and after 21 years of democracy,

不能在取得民主的21年之后，

have the colonizers in our own country.

在我们国家还保留殖民者。

They belong somewhere. Maybe in a museum; not here.

他们属于别的地方， 也许是博物馆，但不是这里。

I mean learning institutions, places where young people,

我的意思是教育机构

是塑造年轻思想的地方。

young minds are being shaped.

So we cannot continue to have Louis Botha, Rhodes, all these people,

我们不能继续放路易斯·博塔、 罗德这些人的雕像，

because they're representing the colonialism.

因为他们代表了殖民主义。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Sethembile Msezane: On April 9, 2015,

2015年4月9日，

the Cecil John Rhodes statue was scheduled to be removed

塞西尔·约翰·罗兹雕像 计划被拆除，

after a month of debates for and against its removal

不同的利益相关者间展开了

by various stakeholders.

为期一个月的激烈讨论。

This caused a widespread interest in statues in South Africa.

这在南非引起了人们 对雕塑的广泛兴趣。

Opinions varied, but the media focused on problematizing

人们意见不一，但媒体的焦点

the removal of statues.

集中在移除雕塑的问题。

On that -- well, that year, I had just begun my master's

那年，我刚开始在开普敦大学

at the University of Cape Town.

攻读研究生。

During the time of the debate of the statue,

在讨论雕塑问题的那段时间里，

I had been having reoccurring dreams

我重复做着一个梦，

about a bird.

关于一只鸟。

And so I started conjuring her

于是我开始

mentally, spiritually and through dress.

从精神上和穿着上召唤她。

On that day,

那天，

I happened to be having a meeting with my supervisors,

我碰巧要和指导老师开会，

and they told me that the statue was going to fall on that day.

他们告诉我当天要拆除雕塑。

I told them that I'd explain later,

我告诉他们我要推迟会议，

but we had to postpone the meeting

稍后解释原因，

because I was going to perform her as the statue came down.

因为我要在雕塑倒下的时候表演她。

Her name was Chapungu.

她的名字是查平谷。

She was a soapstone bird that was looted from Great Zimbabwe

她是在19世纪晚期从津巴布韦

in the late 1800s,

被洗劫来的皂石鸟。

and is still currently housed in Cecil John Rhodes's estate

目前，她还在开普敦的

in Cape Town.

塞西尔·约翰·罗兹的庄园里。

On that day,

那天，

我用身体来展现她的存在，

I embodied her existence using my body,

在烈日下站了快四个小时。

while standing in the blazing sun for nearly four hours.

As the time came,

那时，

the crane came alive.

鹤苏醒了。

The people did, too --

人们也是——

shouting,

人们大叫，

尖叫，

screaming,

clenching their fists

握紧拳头，

and taking pictures of the moment on their phones and cameras.

用手机和相机记录下了那个时刻。

Chapungu's wings,

查平谷的翅膀

along with the crane,

以及那只鹤

rose to declare the fall of Cecil John Rhodes.

宣告了塞西尔·约翰·罗德斯的离开。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Euphoria filled the air as he became absent from his base,

他被移除时，广场的空气中 弥漫着喜悦的气氛，

while she remained still,

在与此同时， 她继续保持不动，

一直在那里，

very present,

half an hour after his removal.

甚至是在雕像被移除的半个小时后。

Twenty-three years after apartheid,

种族隔离被禁止的23年后，

南非出现了新生代激进分子。

a new generation of radicals has arisen in South Africa.

The story of Chapungu and Rhodes in the same space and time

查平谷和罗德的故事

asks important questions

代表了非常重要的问题，

related to gender,

关于性别，

power,

权利，

self-representation,

自我象征，

创造历史，

history making

and repatriation.

以及遣返。

从那以后，

From then on,

我意识到我的精神信仰与理想

I realized that my spiritual beliefs and dreams

texture my material reality.

使我的物质生活变得丰富多彩。

But for me, Chapungu's story felt incomplete.

但对我而言， 查平谷的故事尚未完结。

This soapstone bird,

皂石鸟，

a spiritual medium and messenger of God and the ancestors,

上帝与我们祖先的精神使者，

needed me to continue her story.

需要我继续她的故事。

And so I dabbled in the dream space a little bit more,

所以我深入这个梦境，

and this is how "Falling" was born.

“坠落”就这样诞生了。

[A film by Sethembile Msezane]

【演讲者的电影】

(Video) (A capella singing)

（视频）

[FALLING]

【坠落】

(Applause)

（掌声）

In the film,

在电影中，

Zimbabwe, South Africa and Germany share a common story

津巴布韦，南非还有德国 有着同样的故事，

about the soapstone birds that were looted from Great Zimbabwe.

关于从津巴布韦洗劫来的皂石鸟。

After Zimbabwe gained its independence,

津巴布韦独立后，

all the birds except for one were returned to the monument.

除了一种鸟，其他所有鸟 都回到了纪念碑。

"Falling" explores the mythological belief that there will be unrest

“坠落”探索了神话中会动摇的信仰，

until the final bird is returned.

直到最后那只鸟回来。

Through my work,

通过我的工作，

I have realized a lot about the world around me:

我加深了对周围世界的了解，

how we move through spaces,

我们如何移动，

who we choose to celebrate

我们选择歌颂什么人，

and who we remember.

铭记什么人。

Now I look in the mirror and not only see an image of myself,

现在我看向镜子时 不仅仅看到了我自己，

but of the women who have made me who I am today.

还看到了塑造我的其他女性。

I stand tall in my work,

我在工作中毫不畏惧地

celebrating women's histories,

歌颂女性历史，

希望有一天

in the hope that perhaps one day,

no little black girl has to ever feel

不再有黑人女孩觉得

like she doesn't exist.

她好像不存在一样。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）