【115】艺术家用她的相机以新的方式看待癌症幸存者&比利时非洲博物馆试图与殖民主义形象作斗争
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ARTS & CULTURE
Using Her Camera, Artist Looks at Cancer Survivors in New Ways
February 03, 2019
When we think about people with cancer, the images that usually come to our minds may be dark and sad. But that is not what Linda McCarthy sees.
McCarthy is a photographer.
For her 'Survivors' project, she took pictures of women who survived or are being treated for breast cancer. She says her goal was to put a face on breast cancer.
"I wanted to photograph them as whole women, not the parts that they see of themselves. So I didn't want scars. I didn't want anything like that, but I wanted them to see how beautiful they are.”
One of the survivors is Cheryl Listman. In 2013, tests showed that she had stage 2-B breast cancer.
Listman was told she had a 40 percent chance of survival. Thinking about her two children helped her decide not to give up and to keep fighting the disease.
Listman said she liked the idea of the Survivors photography project. "I work with women. I help educate women who are going through the journey and just help them navigate through the medical side of it,” she said.
When McCarthy asked to take her picture for the project, Listman thought it might be yet another way to influence other women. It also helped her to look back in time and see how far she had come over the past few years.
Directing attention on the whole woman
The idea of publicizing breast cancer survivors came to McCarthy when she was searching for a ballerina to photograph. During her search, she met a woman named Maggie, who was known as the bald ballerina.
Doctors told Maggie when she was 23 that she had stage-4 metastatic breast cancer. McCarthy asked if she could take her picture – not as a dancer, “but as a beautiful girl who happens to have breast cancer."
McCarthy told VOA she has always sought to capture the heart and spirit of her subjects. To do that, McCarthy offered each woman she photographed a chance to meet and talk openly.
This gave McCarthy a chance to get to know them. The women were also offered a makeover. They worked with makeup artist Victoria Ronan.
"In some cases, it's been a very long time since they have had makeup on. It's been a very long time since they have done something for themselves. … I’ve had a lot of women look in the mirror and just start tearing up because they couldn't believe how beautiful I've made them look."
Listman says it is helpful for breast cancer fighters and survivors to feel beautiful.
"It's very important because when you go through a horrific journey and treatment, you don't feel beautiful. And there is a lot of things done to your body physically; there is a lot of things done to you emotionally, mentally, things that you will never forget that are not pretty. So, when you get to that point in your journey, you feel like a woman again. You feel beautiful, you feel like, you know, you've accomplished the mission."
McCarthy says she hopes that one day she will write a book about her experience capturing survivors in photographs.
I’m Alice Bryant.
Faiza Elmasry reported this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted her report for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in This Story
scar – n. a mark remaining on the skin after an injury
journey – n. a trip; travel
navigate – v. to make one’s way through something
bald – adj. lacking hair on one’s head
mirror – n. an object that provides a true representation of something
accomplish – v. to carry out or execute
ARTS & CULTURE
Belgium’s Museum of Africa Tries to Fight Images of Colonialism
February 03, 2019
Belgium has long struggled to deal with its colonial past.
The small European country controlled large parts of Central Africa from the early 1900s to the 1960s. During colonial rule, millions of Africans died from disease, starvation and violence.
Recently, Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa reopened after five years of building repairs and improvements. The $73-million effort aims to show visitors the reality of colonial rule and modern Africa.
The Royal Museum for Central Africa first opened in 1910 during the rule of King Leopold II. The museum was set up to to show the power of his empire and the colonial riches it provided.
Just more than 100 years later, museum workers have tried to completely change that. Guido Gryseels is the current director.
"Our aim was to make a museum of contemporary Africa, the Africa of today. But at the same time to also bring a very critical look on the colonial past of Belgium. We recognize now the many victims of colonization, the African victims of colonization. We recognize too that a lot of the racist attitudes that were developed at that time have their consequences today."
Those ideas are personified by a group of statues showing Africans as simple and animal-like. The statues formerly were placed all around the building. They are now kept in an underground room.
The museum also had a collection of living things from the colonies. This zoo served as home to more than 250 Congolese people. They were forced to wear traditional clothing. Seven died from being out in cold weather.
Museum workers have been doing research on other collections. This new information has been added to some objects. It tells where they came from and explains their importance.
Videos provide an African understanding of issues such as culture, colonialism and the environment.
King Leopold II built the museum to raise money for mining and rubber production in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. It is estimated that up to 15 million Congolese died from disease, starvation and mass killings under colonial rule.
Mireille-Tsheusi Robert is Bamko-Cran, a Brussels-based anti-racism group. She says the museum has not gone far enough to show the horrible nature of colonialism.
Robert says that when the museum is presented as a museum of Africa and not one of colonization, it creates misunderstandings. She added, "We need to make a real museum of colonization, we need to deal with our colonial history. It is really something that is missing in Belgium."
Director Gryseels says he is open to returning stolen goods to Africa.
"Well, certainly it's not normal that 80 percent of African art is in European museums or in European private collections. So we have to make sure that they can get much greater access to our collections..."
I’m Jonathan Evans.
Henry Ridgwell reported this story for VOANews.com. Jonathan Evans adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in this Story
access – n. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone
attitudes – n. the way you think and feel about someone or something
contemporary – adj. happening or beginning now or in recent times
zoo – n. a place where living, usually wild animals are kept
consequence – n. something produced by a cause or resulting from a series of conditions
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VOA英语慢速听力 97 篇(文化艺术类2018总结）：【目录6】
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