密歇根新闻广播 艺术家们用壁画呼吁人们关注女性

 

A new art project that's made a stop in Michigan is trying to empower women and value girls by recognizing their potential. Girl Noticed has a message and is stating in ten-foot-tall terms.

Watching someone sketch¹ is interesting. Watching someone sketch a mural on a wall is fascinating because of the scale. But, there's a problem when you do a mural on an outdoor brick wall using charcoal² and chalk. It's going to weather away. It will eventually fade to nothing.

And the artist I'm watching says that's part of the message.

"We go through our lives feeling invisible a lot of times, feeling unnoticed, or feeling like we're noticed for the wrong reasons," Lori Pratico said as she stepped down from the ladder.

She says she wants people to re-think what they notice about women before the chance fades away and they miss the best part of someone.

"Because we're so saturated³ with the media and how we're supposed to look, and how we're supposed to act, and the roles we're supposed to play. And is that really who we are as women?" Pratico asked.

Pratico and her partner in this project, photographer Elizabeth Sanjuan, have put together three mural projects in their home state of Florida. This mural on the brick wall of Ann Arbor's Jefferson Market and Cakery is the first trip out-of-state. They plan projects for all 50 states over the next three years.

Lori Pratico in front of a Girl Noticed mural in Florida.

The words "Notice Me" are drawn⁴ in large letters above a chalk and charcoal portrait of a woman. It's a drawing of Chris Avers⁵ from Algonac near Lake St. Clair. She drove up while I was visiting.

This is the first time the artist and the subject of the mural have met in person.

Pratico chooses someone who inspires her for each mural. She's featured a 16-year-old who beat cancer. Another subject was a young student with Asbergers who was bullied⁶ at school. Pratico chose Chris Avers because Avers posted on Facebook that she was 23 years sober⁷.

"It's kind of funny that this happened because I really put it out there on Facebook which I (normally) don't. I thought, 'You know what? I just don't even want to be ashamed anymore. It is what it is.' You don't even need to see my face. Just know that sobriety is a choice and it's an awesome⁸ choice. It's not an easy choice, especially at the beginning, but it's the best choice you'll make," Avers said.

Part of this project is interactive⁹. Visitors are asked to write on a post-it note, revealing what they want people to notice about them. Then they put those notes on the wall along side the mural.

For Avers, that note was easy.

"I'll say notice my sobriety. That's what I'm here for. It's what I'm showing up for. Heck yeah."

The artist, Lori Pratico, says most women understand the message from Girl Noticed. They're tired of being noticed for their appearance, but not for their skills, or ability, or fierceness. But Pratico says a lot of men laugh, wink¹⁰, and nudge because they know what they notice about women.

David Adgate is not one of those kind of men. He was visiting Jefferson Market and was curious about the mural.

"It's a really cool project. You know, I've never heard of anything like this before and, you know, these are people, these are women. We need advocates like this. These are really cool."

I ask him what he would want to be noticed for.

"You know, if I wanted to be noticed for anything, I think it would be for what I do to serve and empathize because I think, you know, when that happens in other people, I see it and it helps me to be better. So. Yeah," Adgate responded.

Lori Pratico says she hopes the mural and the post-it notes start a dialogue, or at least start people thinking.

"A lot of women really even have a hard time filling out that post-it note because they don't think about it. They've gotten to a point in their life where they just don't even think about what they want noticed about themselves," Pratico said.

This Michigan mural is being installed right across the street from an elementary school. Pratico says she hopes those young girls get the message and think about how they'd like to be noticed.

Support for arts and cultural reporting on Michigan Radio comes in part from a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.

1 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。

2 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

3 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

4 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。

5 avers   

v.断言( aver的第三人称单数 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出

参考例句：

• He avers that chaos will erupt if he loses. 他断言，如果他失败将会爆发动乱。 来自辞典例句
• He avers he will not attend the meeting. 他断言不会参加那个会议。 来自互联网

6 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 sober   

adj.清醒的，沉着冷静的，稳重的，颜色暗淡的；vt.使清醒，使沉着；vi.清醒，冷静下来

参考例句：

• He talked to us in a sober friendly fashion.他以冷静而又友好的方式同我们交谈。
• The man was still sober when he went home.那人回到家时头脑依然清醒。

8 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

9 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

10 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。