美国国家公共电台 NPR Magda Sayeg: What's The Emotional Power Behind ＂Yarn Bombing＂?

 

GUY RAZ, HOST:

It's the TED¹ Radio Hour from NPR. I'm Guy Raz. And on the show today - ideas about the subtle power of art to transform the way each of us sees the world.

MAGDA SAYEG: I say something similar to that. I always say, like, art won't solve world hunger or war, but it can provoke people to critically think hopefully.

RAZ: This is Magda Sayeg. She's a textile artist, and she basically invented yarn² bombing.

SAYEG: It's like any street art, but instead of a spray can, I picked up knitting.

RAZ: Magda essentially³ covers random⁴ objects on the street in yarn. It's kind of like knitting a sweater for a stop sign or a street pole or fire hydrants.

SAYEG: I've done 30-foot statues. I've done stairwells. I've done columns that span seven stories that are 100 inches in circumference⁵, a hundred trees in front of the Capitol. Some of my biggest projects are definitely the bus in Mexico City that happened in 2007.

RAZ: A whole bus - an entire bus?

SAYEG: Yeah. And what was interesting about that is that, at the time, it was considered the largest object to be covered in knitting. And then from that point on, I just wanted to go bigger or weirder⁶ or do hundreds of small things. So, you know, I couldn't stop after that.

RAZ: It feels like, in the middle of the night, like, magical elves came in and just knitted all this cool stuff everywhere. I've seen it. And I think these elves came in the middle the night and made this happen.

SAYEG: Well, I mean, you do do it incognito⁷. No one gave you permission to do this. So you kind of have to do it without getting caught. Now, granted, people with knitting don't usually look like they're threatening in any way. And it's not really caustic⁸. Or people don't really consider it vandalism. But it's, you know, it's going on other people's property or city property and putting your knitting on it.

RAZ: So how did you start doing this? Like, how'd it start?

SAYEG: I was barely 30. And I was sitting in my shop. I had a clothing shop back then. And I - it was a cold winter day. And it was very gray. And I personally wanted to see something handmade and colorful and something that put a smile on my face and made me happy. And so I knitted the door handle.

And it was a very selfish pursuit. I didn't care what other people thought. I wanted this. But little did I know that people that would pass by my shop were also sort of intrigued⁹ and effected by it. And they would walk in and ask me about it. And I really did not realize that it would have this kind of effect on other people.

RAZ: Here's Magda Sayeg on the TED stage.

(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)

SAYEG: So clearly, the reaction was interesting. It intrigued me. And I thought, what else could I do? Could I do something, like, in the public domain¹⁰ that would get the same reaction? So I wrapped the stop sign pole near my house. The reaction was wild. It was like people would park their cars and get out of their cars and stare at it and take pictures of it and take pictures next to it and all of that was really exciting to me. And I wanted to do every stop sign pole in the neighborhood. And the more that I did, the stronger the reaction.

So at this point, I'm smitten¹¹. I'm hooked. This was all seductive. I found my new passion. Any urban environment was my playground. And I realized something - we all live in this fast-paced digital world, but we still crave¹² and desire something that's relatable. I think we've all become desensitized by our overdeveloped cities that we live in and billboards¹³ and advertisements and giant parking lots. And we don't even complain about that stuff anymore.

So when you stumble upon a stop sign pole that's wrapped in knitting and it seems so out of place and then it gradually, weirdly¹⁴, you find a connection to it - that is the moment. That is the moment I love. And that is the moment I love to share with others.

RAZ: All right. So eventually, you started to do bigger projects all over the world. And one of them is a statue of a guy holding a gun. Can you tell me about that one?

SAYEG: Yes. It is a statue of a soldier. And I went with cases and cases of material because my original intention was to cover the statue. But when I got there and I looked at the statue - stared at it for a solid 20 minutes - I realized that the significance, the meaning that I wanted to achieve would be from the the weapons - you know, the dagger¹⁵ and the gun that he was holding.

RAZ: Yeah. He's like this sort of bronze statue, very sort of stern and...

SAYEG: And intimidating¹⁶.

RAZ: And intimidating. And then he (laughter) - he has this, like, yarn-covered pistol and a yarn-covered dagger and, like, these bright, like, yarn-y (ph) colors.

SAYEG: Yeah. And it really struck a chord with me because there is something really significant in this simple gesture of taking this material that represents nothing but love. I mean, I can't imagine it representing anything else, you know?

You knit for love. You knit for someone that you care for. And to put it on an object that only represents our instinct to kill or hatred¹⁷ - and, to me, it felt very significant to cover this weapon and symbolically¹⁸ obliterate¹⁹ it and paralyze its function by covering it with love.

RAZ: And, I mean, yarn bombing isn't just yours anymore, right? I mean, people all over the world have picked this up. You - people have covered tanks and the bull statue on Wall Street. And it's kind of like your work on that statue. I mean, it has a pretty powerful message - right? - because it's a lot different than covering a stop sign or a bike wreck²⁰ with yarn.

SAYEG: Yeah, absolutely. I think that there's different meaning. A lot of the times, art is, you know, a response or has a social agenda to it. And it's quite successful.

RAZ: Yeah.

SAYEG: We see this craft as something that's functional²¹. That's domestic. We see it as a woman - women's work. And we're taking it out of all of those different boxes and putting it in this other world and reshaping objects with it and re-identifying them and enhancing them and even shining a new light on them. And I think that people are intrigued by that.

And if I can send a good message out, then that makes me so happy. As an artist, you hope that you can stimulate²² conversation and help community and help connection happen and dialogue with each other. And that's what I believe art can do.

RAZ: That's textile artist Magda Sayeg. You can see her full talk and some of her work at ted.com.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

5 circumference   

n.圆周，周长，圆周线

参考例句：

• It's a mile round the circumference of the field.运动场周长一英里。
• The diameter and the circumference of a circle correlate.圆的直径与圆周有相互关系。

6 weirder   

怪诞的( weird的比较级 )； 神秘而可怕的； 超然的； 古怪的

参考例句：

• Actually, things got a little weirder when the tow truck driver showed up. 事实上，在拖吊车司机出现后，事情的发展更加怪异。

7 incognito   

adv.匿名地；n.隐姓埋名；adj.化装的，用假名的，隐匿姓名身份的

参考例句：

• He preferred to remain incognito.他更喜欢继续隐姓埋名下去。
• He didn't want to be recognized,so he travelled incognito.他不想被人认出，所以出行时隐瞒身分。

8 caustic   

adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的

参考例句：

• He opened his mouth to make a caustic retort.他张嘴开始进行刻薄的反击。
• He enjoys making caustic remarks about other people.他喜欢挖苦别人。

9 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

10 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

11 smitten   

猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• From the moment they met, he was completely smitten by her. 从一见面的那一刻起，他就完全被她迷住了。
• It was easy to see why she was smitten with him. 她很容易看出为何她为他倾倒。

12 crave   

vt.渴望得到，迫切需要，恳求，请求

参考例句：

• Many young children crave attention.许多小孩子渴望得到关心。
• You may be craving for some fresh air.你可能很想呼吸呼吸新鲜空气。

13 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

14 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

15 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

16 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

17 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

18 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

19 obliterate   

v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去

参考例句：

• Whole villages were obliterated by fire.整座整座的村庄都被大火所吞噬。
• There was time enough to obliterate memories of how things once were for him.时间足以抹去他对过去经历的记忆。

20 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

21 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

22 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。