美国国家公共电台 NPR MacArthur 'Genius' Paints Nigerian Childhood Alongside Her American Present

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The 34-year-old visual artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a creature of two worlds. She was born in Nigeria and has lived in the U.S. for almost two decades. She weaves those worlds together into her large-scale paintings. Last year Crosby was named a MacArthur genius, and she has shows in Baltimore and New Orleans running at the same time. Karen Michel reports.

KAREN MICHEL, BYLINE¹: Njideka Akunyili Crosby's paintings are really big, some up to 8 feet by 10 feet. They're portraits of groups of people set in Nigeria or Brooklyn or Los Angeles melded with black and white photographs of politicians, images of ancestors, most of them women, and objects that signify life in both cultures - a bowl to hold rice, a kerosene² lamp, Ikea furniture.

NJIDEKA AKUNYILI CROSBY: I think the point I make in my work is that my home is Nigeria and the United States at the same time.

MICHEL: Njideka Akunyili Crosby holds citizenship³ in both countries, listens to both Grace Jones and Nigerian pop in her studio and, when filling out forms, never knows where to call her permanent residence.

AKUNYILI CROSBY: That really is what it means for me to be an immigrant - is this navigation of two worlds at the same time.

MICHEL: In many of her works, there's a sort of portal between the figures, an open space in a wall between them. And she often paints members of her family. There's a striking image in the New Orleans Museum of Art of a group sitting around a table. The artist is standing⁴, gazing down at the only white person in the group, her husband.

AKUNYILI CROSBY: That is loosely based on what happened the first time he visited Nigeria. Yes, it was a very serious family meeting that probably had three times the number of people in that painting. And it was, so, young man, what are your plans? (Laughter) Are you going to marry her? Yeah, like, how will you guys make it work in a country that is still very racist⁵?

MICHEL: They now have a young son. A painting at the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., includes a depiction⁶ of the artist embraced by her husband kneeling at her feet in their U.S. home. Ian Berry, the museum's director, says this is a critical time to show artists like Akunyili Crosby, whose work looks like the museum's visitors.

IAN BERRY: And I think Njideka's work presents a complex view of what it means to be from different places and of different places and living in a contemporary world. So seeing her version of portraiture⁷ where people are a complex mix I think is very valuable right now.

TREVOR SCHOONMAKER: There's enough beauty and a recognizable something there that we can all relate to no matter where we're from that just pulls you in. And you don't have to know what she's trying to do to appreciate it, and I think that's a great part of her success.

MICHEL: Trevor Schoonmaker is the chief curator at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, N.C. He's also artistic⁸ director for Prospect⁹.4, the New Orleans-wide art show that includes Akunyili Crosby's work. He's especially intrigued¹⁰ with the way the artist layers different worlds and different images, mixing acrylics, colored pencils and photos taken by the artist and ripped from magazines that at least partly cover nearly every figure from a Nigerian Michael Jackson impersonator to a former dictator to Janelle Monae.

SCHOONMAKER: She's figured this out in a way that's really brilliant. Certain elements are American, and other elements are Nigerian. Certain elements are Western. Others are African. I mean, that's why she just won a MacArthur.

MICHEL: The call that she'd won came when Njideka Akunyili Crosby was parking her car.

AKUNYILI CROSBY: And the only reason why I picked it up is I'm curious. I love answering numbers I don't know. And it was very bizarre but also very happy. So it's also like you're terrified, but you're also very happy. And it was all sorts of very odd emotions at the same time.

MICHEL: That curiosity feeds into her work. As an undergrad, Akunyili Crosby majored in both studio art and biology. The many layers in her work are like membranes¹¹, enabling a cultural osmosis between the living rooms of her Nigerian childhood and those of her current life in Los Angeles. For NPR News, I'm Karen Michel.

1 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。

2 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 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。

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

6 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

7 portraiture   

n.肖像画法

参考例句：

• I am going to have my portraiture taken.我请人给自己画张肖像。
• The painting of beautiful women was another field of portraiture.人物画中的另一个领域是仕女画。

8 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

9 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

10 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。

11 membranes   

n.（动物或植物体内的）薄膜( membrane的名词复数 )；隔膜；（可起防水、防风等作用的）膜状物

参考例句：

• The waste material is placed in cells with permeable membranes. 废液置于有渗透膜的槽中。 来自辞典例句
• The sarcoplasmic reticulum is a system of intracellular membranes. 肌浆网属于细胞内膜系统。 来自辞典例句