VOA慢速英语--伊斯坦布尔女性成街头涂鸦大师

Women Leading Artistic¹ Graffiti Growth in Istanbul

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is witnessing an explosion² of graffiti art.

Many of those driving this wave of colorful artistic expression are women. Gamze Yalcin is one of them. She has been painting graffiti on Istanbul’s walls for the past six years.

Yalcin, a trained artist, told VOA it is exciting to see continual³ growth of graffiti art across the city.

“More and more, the new generation are very into painting on the streets. But for me it is still very much at the beginning,” she said.

Yalcin spoke⁴ to VOA as she worked to finish her latest art project on the wall of an abandoned building in Istanbul’s Tophane district. She says a lot of the graffiti art deals with women and women’s issues.

“I feel very lucky that as a female⁵ artist painting on the street wherever I go, that brings so much power and so much inspiration⁶.”

Yalcin believes this kind of artwork can help inspire women to do whatever they want to do in their own lives. She says the number of female artists in Turkey continues to grow. Some of them have sought her help to learn more about graffiti art.

In some countries, marking up buildings with graffiti is considered a serious crime.

Human rights groups and other countries have criticized⁷ Turkey’s government for restricting⁸ forms of free expression. They accuse the government of taking steps to limit news reporting and stop political critics.

But Yalcin says that while there are more Turkish rules for street art today than in the past, graffiti artists are generally left alone.

“We are having more and more limits for our street life from what we used to have,” she said.

She added that she has not had any trouble from police. Sometimes, she is told that graffiti art is not officially permitted. But she says police often then tell her, “thank you for creating art for our places.”

Observers⁹ say the police treatment of graffiti creators can be partly explained by the fact that most do not include strong political themes in their art.

Yalcin says her works¹⁰ are usually made up of a collection of images and symbols that relate to a specific theme.

“People want to see colors, they want to see art. Whatever you do on the street is a gift for everyone," she said. "We have very limited parks, so green areas is always a subject I like to include with symbols of plants and greens.”

On the streets of Istanbul, many people like Yalcin’s art work. Many of them often stop to offer words of praise as she paints. Others take pictures of her work.

Ulas operates a restaurant in the city.

“Coloring the walls and shop fronts is beautiful, rather than seeing just shutters¹¹ or bare, derelict walls. This is much more colorful. When you wake up in the morning, streets look much different. I think this is super.”

Graffiti art is becoming an important part of Istanbul’s culture. At a recent arts show, the most popular area had graffiti created by women artists.

Yalcin says she sees this popularity¹² continuing because it provides beauty and happiness for people throughout the city.

“Whatever you do on the street is a gift for everyone. So [people] are really taking it as a gift, and they feel connected,” she said.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

abandon – v. to leave someone or something somewhere

theme – n. a subject used in a work of art

inspire – v. make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it

symbol – n. sign or object used to represent something

derelict – adj. piece of land or building not being used anymore and is in bad condition

bare – adj. not covered

1 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。

2 explosion   

n.爆发，发出，爆炸

参考例句：

• The police arrived right at the moment of the explosion.警察就在爆炸的那个时候赶到了。
• The shock of the explosion was felt far away.爆炸引起的震动很远都可感觉到。

3 continual   

adj.不间断的，不停的；多次重复的，频频的

参考例句：

• I am tired of this continual rain.不停的下雨使我厌倦。
• He has continual arguments with his father.他屡次跟他父亲争论。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

6 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

7 criticized   

vt.批评(criticize的过去式)v.评论，批评( criticize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The decision was criticized by environmental groups. 这个决定受到了环保团体的批评。
• The movie has been criticized for apparently legitimizing violence. 这部电影因明显地美化暴力而受到了指责。

8 restricting   

v.（以法规）限制( restrict的现在分词 )；约束；束缚

参考例句：

• laws restricting immigration into the US 美国限制外来移民的法律
• She argued for import control, ie the restricting of imports. 她主张实行进口限制。 来自辞典例句

9 observers   

n.观察者( observer的名词复数 )；遵守者；观测者；目击者

参考例句：

• According to observers, the plane exploded shortly after take-off. 据目击者说，飞机起飞后不久就爆炸了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

11 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

12 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。