VOA标准英语2012--Sudanese Activist Artist Breaks Down Borders

Sudanese Activist¹ Artist Breaks Down Borders

In an audio montage of memories from refugees, the sounds of gunfire and explosions mix with crying babies. Narrator Michelle Orecchio describes how to reverse war's grip on so much of humanity.

"All it takes is wisdom and I am absolutely sure we can get it back into the box and bind² the chains and lock the locks," she said.

The audio art is one of many creations by Sudanese artist Elshafei Dafalla Mohamed. The Washington-based activist works across artistic³ genres⁴, from photography to installations and conceptual events to show the sameness of people, while also exposing injustices⁵.

His own home region in the south of Sudan is experiencing conflict and humanitarian⁶ crisis amid the messy separation between Sudan and the world's newest country South Sudan. 

On the wall of his room in a suburb of Washington, he describes pictures of a community event he regularly leads called "Water and Fire" where a fire is lit and then doused⁷.

"The fire that is when I burned the partition and the partition represents a border, and by burning it I have hope that people and countries, these will be without borders," Mohamed said.

The name of his hometown on the banks of the Blue Nile, Sennar, means the edge of the fire. 

Traditionally, bonfires were lit to attract travelers. One of the main ideas driving Mohamed's art is to show problems caused by man-made, artificial borders.

"People they should live without borders, that is how people used to live at the beginning. But unfortunately our politicians they start to build these borders regarding their own interests. It creates more problems than it creates peace. They should maybe work to destroy borders and make the world open and accessible," Mohamed said.

A new project Mohamed is working on is called "Harbor: Survivors⁸ Among Us."

The song he is using to promote the project contains the lyrics⁹ "Would I harbor you? Would you harbor me?"

The artist asks people to visualize¹⁰ the threat of being tortured for simply speaking one's mind, making art, or protesting. 

He aims to portray¹¹ torture survivors of whom more than half a million are estimated to be living in the United States. 

Many of them have been granted or are seeking asylum¹², but still face problems and challenges.

Mohamed, who has been living in the United States over a decade, recently moved to the Washington area, even though it is not known as an artist destination. 

He says he wants to be here to impact discussions taking place at the center of U.S. political power.

Ryan Brenner, a student activist and political science undergraduate at George Washington University, met him last year while he was staging a hunger strike across the White House to draw attention to the situation in the border regions between Sudan and South Sudan.

"I think art is a great form of activism. It definitely reaches an audience that other forms of activism cannot even begin to get to and his art definitely speaks volumes about humanity as a whole," Brenner said.

At a recent meeting at a Washington-based organization called Voices for Sudan, Mohamed showed her pictures of yet another art project he is conducting -- fingerprinting¹⁴ people to make giant color-corrected fingerprint¹³ murals.

He says the aim there is to show how beautiful fingerprints¹⁵ are misused¹⁶ for bureaucratic¹⁷ purposes. 

Mohamed discussed with Brenner setting up a fingerprint event as a way to bring diverse people together to discuss issues such as borders, immigration and justice.

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

3 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。

4 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

5 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 doused   

v.浇水在…上( douse的过去式和过去分词 )；熄灯[火]

参考例句：

• The car was doused in petrol and set alight. 这辆汽车被浇上汽油点燃了。
• He doused the lamp,and we made our way back to the house. 他把灯熄掉，我们就回到屋子里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

9 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

10 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

11 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

12 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

13 fingerprint   

n.指纹；vt.取...的指纹

参考例句：

• The fingerprint expert was asked to testify at the trial.指纹专家应邀出庭作证。
• The court heard evidence from a fingerprint expert.法院听取了指纹专家的证词。

14 fingerprinting   

v.指纹( fingerprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Institutions from banks to pawnshops are fingerprinting to authenticate transactions. 从银行到当铺，都在使用指纹识别对交易进行验证。 来自互联网
• In addition, a digital fingerprinting algorithm based on binary codes is described. 介绍了一种二进制指纹编码方案。 来自互联网

15 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。