美国国家公共电台 NPR Chicano Art Wields A Sharper Political Edge In Post-Election California

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

To California now where there's a new wave of Chicano art on the streets and in galleries. Chicano art was born during the political unrest of the 1960s and '70s, and it has bubbled along ever since. But as Rachael Myrow of member station KQED reports, the work has taken on a fiercer political edge since last November.

RACHAEL MYROW, BYLINE¹: This weekend, a group show called Art As Resistance: Paintings In Protest To A Trump² Presidency³ opens in northeast Los Angeles. It's the brainchild of Eric Almanza, a figurative painter and high school art teacher whose contribution to the show is the latest in the series of oil paintings he's produced depicting⁴ the border wall with Mexico. In this painting, the wall is being set on fire, and your eye can't help but be drawn⁵ to a curious symbol on it, circular dream catcher with a triangle in the center that looks a bit like the Triforce from "Legend Of Zelda," the Japanese fantasy videogame series.

ERIC ALMANZA: You know, because every great resistance needs some sort of logo.

MYROW: Almanza is one of a growing number of Chicano artists responding as the Trump administration makes good on promises to peel back civil rights enforcement and crack down on illegal immigration with a heavy emphasis on Latino immigration.

ALMANZA: About four years ago, I started working on this narrative⁶ of this post-apocalyptic, 21st-century society, and I always imagined that it would take place 50 years from now.

MYROW: The paint may not be dry on Art As Resistance, but Chicano art has been tackling political topics from the get-go, starting with the Great Boycott⁷ of the 1960s and '70s and the Vietnam War.

JUDITH BACA: It is an art that was made alongside of a movement for civil rights.

MYROW: Judith Baca is a muralist, visual artist and professor at UCLA in Chicano studies and world arts and cultures.

BACA: So some of the most powerful images came about speaking about farm working conditions in the Central Valley in California, artworks that spoke⁸ about inner city struggle with the police, artworks and articulated stories in histories that have been forgotten and not spoken about or taught in the schools.

MYROW: That art comes in the form of oil paintings and sculpture, but also music, theater and agit prop⁹ posters for distribution and protest marches which are also enjoying a renaissance¹⁰ of sorts in recent months.

(SOUNDBITE OF SQUEEGEE SWISHING)

MYROW: That's the swish of a squeegee spreading ink over poster paper. At any number of protests around the world, you'll see people carrying posters printed off the internet designed by or distributed by the Oakland graphic¹¹ arts collective Melanie Cervantes runs with her partner called Dignidad Rebelde.

MELANIE CERVANTES: We have to have a lot of different kinds of work like that. And we have to have everyone, and we need more people doing it because that is its power.

MYROW: Divest¹² from prisons, one of her posters shouts in bright purple, yellow and teal. Domestic workers deserve rights and respect, says another. Dignidad Rebelde follows in a long line of Chicano graphic arts collectives, part of the culture of these collectives is to teach people how to do it themselves. And Cervantes gets invited to teach screen-printing workshops at universities and community centers around the country. She makes a point of mixing in Chicano history and art history with her discussion of technique.

CERVANTES: Sometimes it's just connecting the dot a little bit better for folks to be able to see that our struggles have many fronts.

MYROW: For Judith Baca, the work of Almanza and Cervantes is a welcome return to the political roots of Chicano art after several decades when many artists focus on trying to win recognition from art critics and museums.

BACA: Chicano is about resistance and affirmation of a culture, and I think it's giving many young artists purpose again and a kind of focus for their work. So I think it's kind of exciting.

MYROW: Chicano artwork - old and new - is being shown at museums and galleries across California this year. But the biggest exhibition coming up, bar none, will be Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a massive multi-institution blowout organized by the Getty. For NPR News, I'm Rachael Myrow.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

10 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

11 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

12 divest   

v.脱去，剥除

参考例句：

• I cannot divest myself of the idea.我无法消除那个念头。
• He attempted to divest himself of all responsibilities for the decision.他力图摆脱掉作出该项决定的一切责任。