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VOA慢速英语2012 THIS IS AMERICA - New Photography Shows Different Side of Annie Leibovitz

时间:2012-02-06 06:41:23

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THIS IS AMERICA - New Photography Shows Different Side of Annie Leibovitz

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Shirley Griffith.
JUNE SIMMS: And I'm June Simms. This week on our program, we visit a new exhibit of work by photographer Annie Leibovitz. Then, we tell you about a collection of works by women performing traditional American music. And, later, we go under the streets of New York City to hear the work of subway musicians.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Annie Leibovitz has been a photographer for forty years. She is famous for her photographs of people, especially famous people. She says she will continue doing portraits of people, but also wants to take other kinds of photos.
A new exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington shows a different side to her work. She spent two years taking pictures without any people in them. Many are photos of places in the United States where famous people lived in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are photos of homes and personal items that belonged to people including artists, scientists, photographers and a president. The exhibit is called "Pilgrimage."
Photographer Annie Leibovitz at her exhibit in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington
Ms. Leibovitz explains that from two thousand nine to two thousand eleven, she took photos of places that moved her emotionally. She says the collection represents a renewal1 of her spirit. Her lover, the author Susan Sontag, died of cancer at the end of two thousand four. Ms. Leibovitz had financial troubles and almost lost control of her photo archives.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: "There's some searching going on. I discovered some things about myself which were really comforting."
Ms. Leibovitz says she was inspired by Georgia O'Keefe, the twentieth century artist. She traveled to New Mexico to photograph the houses where O'Keeffe lived and a box of handmade pastels that she drew with.
Ms. Leibovitz also captured images of items that belonged to President Abraham Lincoln. These include his hat and gloves from when he was assassinated2 in eighteen-sixty-five.
Andy Grundberg curated the exhibit for the museum.
ANDY GRUNDBERG: "What she's really trying to do is evoke3 the presence of people, in a way, despite their absence."
He calls the exhibit "a portrait of Leibovitz."
ANDY GRUNDBERG: "This is a way of understanding how Annie Leibovitz thinks about the world through the pictures that she's taken of people and places that are important to her."
Annie Leibovitz told reporters that she had not planned to focus on people from the past.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: "What really drew me to them, I think that they stand out. I thrive on history. I love it."
One person she focused on was Annie Oakley. Annie Oakley was famous in the late eighteen hundreds for her shooting skills. She appeared in Buffalo4 Bill's Wild West Show. Annie Leibovitz photographed Annie Oakley's boots and one of her shooting targets.
She also went to Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Tennessee. There, she took a picture of his motorcycle. The rock and roll great died in nineteen seventy-seven.
To honor Ansel Adams, the famous landscape photographer, Ms. Leibovitz took a picture of his darkroom. Ansel Adams was known for his photography of the wilderness5 in the American West. He was also a leader in the nature conservation movement. He died in nineteen eighty-four.
Annie Leibovitz also took photos similar to his pictures of Yosemite Valley in California.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: "The best homage6 you can make was photographing that valley that he saved."
The "Pilgrimage" exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum continues through May twentieth.
(MUSIC)
JUNE SIMMS: American roots music is the collective name for traditional forms like old-time country, blues7 and folk music. Some of the best-remembered roots musicians include men like Lead Belly8, Muddy Waters and Doc Watson. Now, a woman in the Pacific Northwest is trying to get people to think more about female roots musicians.
On a recent day, Dyann Arthur and her husband, Rick, were at the Old-Time Music Gathering9 in Portland, Oregon. She walked around the performance hall and compared the numbers of male and female players in different groups.
DYANN ARTHUR: "This one's pretty well integrated, and then there are some of them that are primarily the guys."
Ms. Arthur plays piano and guitar but earned her living from mortgage loan banking10. She recently retired11. So did her husband, a pilot. They talked a lot about what they would do in their retirement12. They wanted something meaningful that combined music and travel.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The result was a trip through thirty of the fifty states. They recorded performances of women making traditional music. And, says Rick Arthur, they also asked the women about their histories as musicians.
RICK ARTHUR: "They don't have mentors13. They don't have an image to see themselves in that position. Early on we took that as kind of a philosophical14 goal to produce those types of images that women could identify with."
The work developed into the MusicBox Project. So far this nonprofit effort has collected material on more than eighty American roots musicians.
DYANN ARTHUR: "All forms of music. We like to say A to Z, Appalachian to Zydeco."
One of the artists is vocalist and guitarist Lauren Sheehan of Portland.
(MUSIC)
Ms. Sheehan trained as a classical musician in the late nineteen seventies. Then, one day, she borrowed some vinyl records of folk music from her college library.
LAUREN SHEEHAN: "When I heard that breadth, I sought out folk festivals even more. That was because there was an archived piece of real music that spoke15 to me."
The music included recordings16 from the nineteen thirties, collected by the Library of Congress.
Now, through the MusicBox Project, Lauren Sheehan's own music is in the American Folklife collection at the Library of Congress. The Arthurs donated a copy of their collection to the library.
LAUREN SHEEHAN: "I am only a little drop in the bucket of oral tradition, but I am a drop in the bucket, and wonderful players have passed stuff on to me who have now died. All this being in the Library of Congress is so cool because other people can hear that."
Dyann Arthur, the co-founder of the MusicBox Project, says part of her mission is to present examples for future generations of women.
DYANN ARTHUR: "With the educational piece that we hope to do as this thing goes forward -- I would say three to five years out -- is going to be allowed to go into the schools in a format17 that says, 'Look at that saxophone player. There's another one. I can do that, too.'"
The Arthurs also have a YouTube channel with more than three hundred performances. You can find a link at voanews.cn. Dyann Arthur is currently editing some of that material into a documentary.
(MUSIC: Allison Krauss)
JUNE SIMMS: The New York subway system is one of the largest public transportation systems in the world. Each week more than eight million people travel around the city on the subway. But riders can find more than just transportation below the streets of New York. Many subway stations are like free concert halls, with almost every kind of music competing with the noise of the trains.
Rawl Mitchell is an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago. He began playing the steel drums in the subway in the middle of the nineteen nineties.
RAWL MITCHELL: "The people do appreciate the music. They stand around listening to the music and if it pleases them, they applaud and put their money in the case or whatever. They usually clap and say, 'You know, it's nice’."
A singer and songwriter named Rosateresa has been performing in the subway almost as long.
ROSATERESA: "My mission is to sing like the jilguero. The jilguero is a Puerto Rican bird -- I'm Puerto Rican -- that wakes up the sun."
Players like Rawl Mitchell and Rosateresa perform on their own. They are not part of the transit18 system's official "Music Under New York" program. That program offers one hundred fifty weekly performances, including American bluegrass and African kora music.
The only money the musicians earn is whatever the people listening choose to give them.
(SOUND)
On this day, Patricia Vital and Tom McNichols are finding a small but supportive audience. They are members of a group called Opera Collective. They say they love performing opera in the subway, even though they do not earn much.
TOM McNICHOLS: "Music in general is not for the money, and music under New York is definitely more about making opera more accessible than it is about making a living."
Folk singer Wendy Sayvetz has performed in train stations for more than twenty years. She has also performed at the White House. She says people who think subway musicians do not like being subway musicians are wrong.
WENDY SAYVETZ: "What they don't get is that we actually love this gig."
In fact, Ms. Sayvetz and a partner are developing a musical play about subway musicians.
WENDY SAYVETZ: "It's not about 'Oh, we don't have to play in the subway anymore.' We want people to go, 'Oh, subway music is the best thing!'"
You can watch a video about subway musicians at voanews.cn.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Our program was produced by Brianna Blake and June Simms with reporting by Deborah Block, Tom Banse and Carolyn Weaver19. I'm Shirley Griffith.
JUNE SIMMS: And I'm June Simms. THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 renewal UtZyW     
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来
参考例句:
  • Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
  • Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。
2 assassinated 0c3415de7f33014bd40a19b41ce568df     
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏
参考例句:
  • The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
  • Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后,肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句
3 evoke NnDxB     
vt.唤起,引起,使人想起
参考例句:
  • These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
  • Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。
4 buffalo 1Sby4     
n.(北美)野牛;(亚洲)水牛
参考例句:
  • Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
  • The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。
5 wilderness SgrwS     
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。
6 homage eQZzK     
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬
参考例句:
  • We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
  • The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。
7 blues blues     
n.抑郁,沮丧;布鲁斯音乐
参考例句:
  • She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
  • He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。
8 belly QyKzLi     
n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛
参考例句:
  • The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
  • His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。
9 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
10 banking aySz20     
n.银行业,银行学,金融业
参考例句:
  • John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
  • He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。
11 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
12 retirement TWoxH     
n.退休,退职
参考例句:
  • She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
  • I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
13 mentors 5f11aa0dab3d5db90b5a4f26c992ec2a     
n.(无经验之人的)有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.(无经验之人的)有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友,比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
  • These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网
14 philosophical rN5xh     
adj.哲学家的,哲学上的,达观的
参考例句:
  • The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
  • She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。
15 spoke XryyC     
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。
16 recordings 22f9946cd05973582e73e4e3c0239bb7     
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
参考例句:
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
17 format giJxb     
n.设计,版式;[计算机]格式,DOS命令:格式化(磁盘),用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据;v.使格式化,设计,安排
参考例句:
  • Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
  • The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。
18 transit MglzVT     
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过
参考例句:
  • His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
  • The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。
19 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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