Let's talk about how the narrative of Africa is being told, and who is doing the telling. I want to share with you the selection of work by contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora. I love this art. I find it beautiful and inspiring and thrilling, and I really hope I am able to pique your interest.
让我们来谈谈对非洲的故事 是怎么被诉说的, 还有是谁在告诉我们。 我想和你们分享一些经过精心挑选的 来自非洲以及散落在非洲之外的 当代艺术家的作品。 我热爱这种艺术。 我发现它很美,很鼓舞人心, 也很令人兴奋, 并且我很希望我能够引起你们的兴趣。
I want to share something about myself and why art matters to me. I'm the daughter of an artist, so that means that growing up, I had the chance to see my father do artwork in his studio. My home was surrounded by art, and I had an early art education, being dragged to museums and exhibitions over the summer holidays. What I did not understand, really, at the time, is that this also gave me an early understanding about why art is important, how to look at it, how to understand it, but also how to love it. So art matters to me on a personal level, and not only because it's beautiful and inspiring and thrilling, but because art tells powerful stories. All these artists have stories to tell you about what it means to be African, stories that tell you and touches about our African identity, but also stories that tell us about who we are as Africans, but also stories that tell us about our complex history.
我想先与你们分享一些关于我的事情, 以及为什么艺术对于我来说如此重要。 我是一个画家的女儿, 所以这也就意味着在我长大的过程中, 我有机会看着我的父亲在画室里创作。 我家是被艺术环绕的, 我也很早接受艺术方面的教育, 总是在暑假时被拽到博物馆和艺术展。 我当时并不太懂的,其实, 是这些经历很早地给了我 为什么艺术很重要的理解。 应该怎么看它, 怎么理解它,更重要的是怎么去爱它。 所以艺术在个人层面对我来说极其重要, 并且不仅仅因为它很美, 很鼓舞人心,很令人兴奋, 而且是因为它给我讲述着动人的故事。 所有这些艺术家都有很多故事, 去告诉你身为一个非洲人意味着什么, 那些故事不仅告诉你并向你提及 我们非洲人的身份, 而且告诉你作为非洲人我们是谁, 告诉你非洲人错综复杂的历史。
So how can art tell you powerful stories? I want to share with you this series by Senegalese artist Omar Victor Diop. This is a series of self-portraits, and the artist in this particular series is focusing on the representation of Africans in art history between the 15th to the 19th century. I want to show you how, with one image, Diop is able to touch on our African identity, on the politics of representation, but also on our social value system.
那么艺术怎么能给你讲动人的故事呢? 我想与你们分享这个系列的作品 它们是塞内加尔的摄影师奥 马尔 · 维克多 · 迪奥普的作品。 这是一系列的自拍像, 这位艺术家在这一特定的系列中 主要关注的是在艺术史上 15到19世纪间对非洲黑人描绘。 我想让你们知道,仅仅用一张图片, 迪奥普是不仅在政治的被代表程度上, 而且也在社会价值体系的层面上, 提及我们非洲黑人的身份的。
In this particular self-portrait, Diop is actually referencing another portrait by Anne-Louis Girodet. This picture is doing a portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley. Jean-Baptiste Belley was a native of Senegal, a former slave of Haiti, but during his lifetime, he also was elected to represent the colony at the third government of the French Revolution, and he advocated strongly for the abolition of slavery. What is very smart and clever about Diop here is that he's going back to history. He's reclaiming this figure by restaging this beautiful royal blue uniform, where he is restaging also the pose, and he's doing that to actually underline the issues that are still impacting individuals of color today. There was nothing special about this very typical political portrait of the time, except that for the first time, an individual of color, in that case, Jean-Baptiste Belley, was actually named and acknowledged in a painting. What Diop is adding to this picture is this crucial element, which is the football under his arm, and by doing that, Diop is actually touching at our hero worship culture of African football stars, who unfortunately, despite their fame, their immense talent, and their royalty status, they are still invisible. Diop is asking us to dig deeper, to go beyond history and what has been written, and, basically, see how it still influences and impacts us in the present.
在这一幅自拍像中, 迪奥普其实是在引用一幅 安妮·路易·吉洛·德的画像。 这幅画在描绘让·巴普蒂斯·贝利, 他是一个塞内加尔的当地人, 也曾是一个海地的奴隶, 但在他的有生之年里, 他也在法国大革命的第三政府时期 被选举为殖民地的代表, 并且他强烈地支持奴隶制的废除。 迪奥普在这一点上的做法很聪明, 因为他回归了历史。 他在通过重现这件漂亮的皇家蓝色制服, 以及这个人物的姿势, 去重新塑造这个历史人物。 并且他那么做其实也是在强调 那件直到现在还在 影响着非白人人种的事件。 其实这幅有关政治的画 是那个时期十分典型的, 并没有什么特别。 除了这是历史上第一次 一个非白人个体,在这里也就是 让·巴普蒂斯·贝利 真正地在一幅画里面被提及并得到承认。 迪奥普还在这幅画里面 添加了一个重要的元素, 也就是手臂里的足球, 这么做, 迪奥普其实是在暗示我们对 非洲足球明星的 英雄崇拜心理, 但很不幸的是,除了名气, 过人的天赋,以及忠诚的地位以外, 这些足球明星们还是被忽视的群体。 迪奥普在引导我们理解得更深, 并超越历史和一切被记载下来的东西, 去看它是怎么影响着 像我们一样的当代人的。
I want to share this other beautiful series called "Kesh Angels," by artist Hassan Hajjaj. So in this particular series, the artist is really pushing on the boundaries of stereotype and cliché. Hassan Hajjaj is a friend, and honestly, I admire him dearly, but this particular series is talking to me directly as a Muslim woman. I experience this all the time, where, you know, people have a lot of expectations, religious ones and cultural ones, but what I love about this artist is that he's putting all this on its head. He's actually challenging every representation of Muslim, Arabic women that there is. Hassan Hajjaj is a child of the diaspora. He grew up in Morocco amongst bright logo goods, you know, counterfeit originals being sold at the souks. So to see those symbols representing in his work a celebration of the global culture, a critic of the global urban culture, is no surprise, but really at the heart of his work is his desire of a nuanced representation. He wants us to interrupt ourselves and all the perception that we might have on people, on a culture, and on environment.
我还想分享另一个系列的出色作品, 它是艺术家哈桑·哈加的 “Kesh Angels“。 在这一系列中, 这位艺术家其实是在挑战模式化观念 和陈词滥调的界限。 他是一位朋友, 说实话,我非常地欣赏他, 这个系列的作品其实在从一个 穆斯林女子的角度直接向我传达信息。 我总是能体会到 人们有很多的期待, 无论是信仰上的还是文化上的, 但最让我喜欢的关于这位艺术家的, 其实是他总是把这一点铭记在脑海里。 他总是在挑战对穆斯林和阿拉伯女子 存在的所有描绘。 哈桑·哈加是一个移民者的孩子。 他在摩洛哥颜色鲜艳的名牌中长大, 你知道的,那些其实是当地市场上 卖的伪造品。 所以,当看到这些标志都 被他在作品中描绘出来, 作为一种对世界文化的赞扬, 和对全球城市文化的批判, 并不令人吃惊。 但真正作为他作品的核心的, 是他通过细节来传达信息的欲望。 他想让我们打断我们自己, 并打破对他人, 对文化,对环境的可能有的全部理解。
And for example, this particular picture, your common association would be, you know, certain street brand for a certain Western distinctive consumer. Well, he mashes it all up, where he is daring to imagine a female biker culture where actually Chanel or Louis Vuitton is designing the djellaba, and Nike, the babouche, and this is actually the standard uniform. What I love about the women in "Kesh Angels" is that they are able to hold your gaze. We are completely participating in the image, but they are the one inviting us in, and on their own terms.
举个例子, 那这幅画来说,你们通常的联想到的会是 一个针对西方某些指定消费群体的品牌。 但他现在把它全部混起来, 他敢于想象一个女性骑车者的文化, 在这里面香奈儿和路易威登 设计了阿拉伯人穿的袍子, 耐克设计了阿拉伯风格的凉鞋, 而这其实是标准的穿戴方法。 最让我喜欢的有关于"Kesh Angels" 里的女子的一点是 她们都可以可以吸引我们的目光。 让我们完全沉浸在这幅画中, 并且她们是在用她们自己的方式 来邀请我们走进这幅画。
Hassan Hajjaj's "Kesh Angels" or "Project Diaspora" by Omar Victor Diop offer me two strong examples why art is so instrumental. It is instrumental as it really inspires us to ask questions, but it is also instrumental because it ignites change. Seeing diversity in race and ethnicity in contemporary art is the only way that we'll see changes in the art industry, but also for the relations between Africa and the Western canon. How we will participate in all this is really up to us. There's a lot of progress to be made, and honestly, we still need to support stronger voices, as they are the ones shaking things up and bringing new perspective.
哈桑·哈加的 "Kesh Angels" 和 迪奥普的"散落项目" 为我提供了两个很好的例子, 说明为什么艺术是如此的有用 艺术的重要作用不但在于它鼓励我们发问, 更在于它能引起改变。 观察当代艺术中种族和民族的多样性 是我们能够见证艺术行业变化 以及非洲和西方准则关系的唯一方法。 如何参与到这一过程中 完全取决于我们自己。 还有很多的进步等着我们去实现, 说实话,我们仍需要支持 那些强有力的声音, 因为他们可以把事物重组, 并带来新的观点。
I want to share this beautiful old painting by younger emerging artist Kudzanai-Violet Hwami. For me, when I see her work, it really represents freedom. Hwami has fantastic takes on what it means to be an African and an African life. She has lived in three different countries: Zimbabwe, South Africa and Britain, and therefore has been influenced by a multitude of layers of communities and cultures, from LGBT to eco to Xhosa to emo to British cultures. And as she says herself, the beauty of being a child of the diaspora is really being able to reinvent ourselves and what it means to be African.
我想分享这一幅出色的旧画, 它是更为年轻的新兴艺术家 库泽那依-维奥莉特·哈瓦米的作品。 对于我来说,当我看到她的画时, 它的确代表着自由。 哈瓦米在作为非洲人和在非洲生活 意味着什么这两个问题上 有着独到的见解。 她在这三个不同的国家生活过: 津巴布韦,南非,还有英国。 因此,她受到过社会上和文化上 多个不同层面的影响, 从 LGBT 群体到生态环境, 从非洲的 Xhosa 种族 到 emo摇滚乐, 再到英伦文化。 正如她经常说的,作为一个移居者的孩子, 最令人赞叹的能力 是可以重新塑造自我 并重新定义作为一个非洲人意味着什么。
I want to leave you with this powerful piece by South African artist Lawrence Lemaoana. Lawrence Lemaoana also criticized the influence of the media on our moral consciousness, and he's doing that by using those fabrics like banners in political demonstrations, where he's asking us to reclaim our voices. I believe in the transformative power of art, as it is our only way to paint a nuanced image of Africa, but also its diaspora, one that will be painted by its artists and its cultural producers with their radical but also very unique view of seeing the world and their place in it. It is really through art that we can regain our sense of agency and empowerment. It is through art that we can really tell our own story. So like Lawrence Lemaoana says, the power is ours.
我想在最后向你们展示这幅 南非艺术家劳伦斯·乐麦那的 动人的作品。 乐麦那也批判了 媒体对我们道德认知的影响, 并且他通过利用政治游行中的横幅等材料 来做到这一点, 在这里他在呼吁我们重新 找到我们的声音。 我相信艺术带来改变的力量, 因为它是我们通过细致的图像 去描绘非洲人 以及那里的移居者的唯一方法。 它将会被那里的艺术家和文化行业工作者 用他们看待世界和他们在这世界上的角色 的一种激进但又独一无二的方式来描绘。 通过艺术,我们能够确确实实地 重新拾回对自己行为的控制感和信心。 通过艺术,我们可以确确实实地 讲述我们自己的故事。 所以,就像劳伦斯·乐麦那所说的, 力量是我们的。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
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