美国国家公共电台 NPR--A new NYC Met exhibit explores the complicated role water plays for indigenous groups

A new NYC Met exhibit explores the complicated role water plays for indigenous¹ groups

Transcript²

A new exhibit at New York City's Metropolitan³ Museum of Art explores how Native Americans have used water and highlights the politicization of the resource.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Over the past few decades, much of Indigenous activism has focused on water preservation⁴. A new exhibit at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art examines the meaning of water for Native nations. Here’s NPR's Jennifer Vanasco.

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PATRICIA MARROQUIN NORBY: First, I should say (non-English language spoken). I am Purepecha. I'm Purepecha descent.

JENNIFER VANASCO, BYLINE⁵: Patricia Marroquin Norby is Indigenous. Her family is from a pueblo⁶ in Mexico. And she's leading a small tour of the exhibit "Water Memories."

NORBY: As you go through the exhibition, you realize that what we are doing is creating a current - a stream of stories and memories.

VANASCO: Norby is the Met Museum's first-ever curator of Native American art, and the 40 pieces she's chosen for the show range from the historical to the contemporary. There's a 1989 painting here of a dark angel on the beach and toy canoes made for children to play with two centuries ago. The exhibit explores water's many uses - for fishing, for travel, for ritual, to soften⁷ the reeds that make lidded baskets, but also to flood Native land by building dams or to mark a country's boundaries, like the Rio Grande does between Texas and Mexico. This is a new kind of exhibit for the Met. Norby is encouraging us to think about the politics of water, not just admire beautiful objects. For example, she includes a video shot at the Standing⁸ Rock Reservation.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Vocalizing).

VANASCO: The video, from Cannupa Hanska Luger, is shot from above. And while this music plays, we can see a line of people holding mirrored water protector shields above their heads and gliding⁹ across the snow to create a spiral. It represents a giant water snake. The snake is captivating, but that's not really why the video is here. Sylvia Yount, the curator in charge of the Met's American wing, says this about Norby.

SYLVIA YOUNT: It's an exhibition that really reveals her environmental approach to Indigenous art.

VANASCO: Just a few years ago, Native American art at the Met had been lumped together with art from Africa, Southeast Asia, South America. But the museum received a substantial new gift in 2017 and moved its newly enhanced Native American collection where they say it really belongs - the American wing. Yount says bringing all these new objects into the museum raises questions.

YOUNT: What does it mean to bring an important collection of largely historical Native art into a largely Euro American collection? And what are the issues that are raised? What are the conversations we really need to address?

VANASCO: In other words, looking at objects like these in new ways can actually transform how art is seen in the rest of the museum. But also, some of the objects are just a joy to look at. There's a contemporary art piece, and it's a canoe frame filled with feathers and carefully crafted glass whale oil lamps from the 1800s. One of Norby's favorite works is what looks like a pile of shiny hollow whale teeth on a weathered dock.

NORBY: They glow. They're beautiful. They're pearlescent. You want to - almost want to reach out and touch them because of their smooth texture¹⁰. But we highly recommend that people do not do that here at the museum.

VANASCO: But what she would like people to do is come away with an intimate connection to the significance of water.

Jennifer Vanasco, NPR News, New York.

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1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

4 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

5 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。

6 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

7 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

10 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。