環(huán)球英語—999:Flower of the Earth

Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight I'm Joshua Leo.
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
You are looking at a painting of the form of a bright yellow woman. She stands in front of a beautiful green hill and a large yellow and orange sun. The sky around her is a deep blue. The woman has hair as red as fire, and it blows in the wind to the right. She is painted from the waist up, leaning beautifully to the right. Her arms are raised above her head. The palms of her hand face out, as if she is opening them up. This painting is of the goddess Chasca. The artist calls her the goddess of the earth in the Inca culture.
Voice 2
This painting is by the artist Andrea Arroyo. Arroyo is known for these kinds of paintings - very bright and colorful paintings of powerful women. But she is also currently working on a different kind of project. She is giving a voice to victims of violence in the Mexican city of Juarez. Today's Spotlight is on this art project by Andrea Arroyo. It is called "Flor de Tierra". And it is her way to honor and remember the murdered women of Juarez.
Voice 1
Andrea Arroyo was born in Mexico. She moved to New York City as a young woman to study dance. However, when she arrived in New York, she found what she really loved to do was art - especially sculpture and drawing.
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The subjects of Arroyo's art are always women. And many of these art pieces concentrate on amazing women from around the world. She says she wants to celebrate everything that is feminine, or like a woman. She also wants to celebrate the strength of women. So, she draws and paints representations of influential women like Joan of Arc and Cleopatra. She also draws and paints goddesses from many different cultures, religions, and stories - from Bali to Thailand to ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures.
Voice 1
But Arroyo uses her project Flor de Tierra in a different way. This project concentrates on female victims - women whose influence and power were taken when they were killed. In the Spanish language Flor de Tierra means "flower of the Earth."
Voice 2
Since 1993, over 400 women have been murdered or have disappeared in Juarez, Mexico. This large city is on the border of Mexico and the United States. Officials have not identified the killers of these women. And many bodies of the women cannot even be identified. Some of the women victims show signs of sexual abuse. Many bodies show signs of torture. Today, women in this area still disappear. Families of victims search for signs of hope. But often, there are none. And the victims are forgotten.
Arroyo wanted to do something to help people remember these victims. She told the website Women's eNews,
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"Although I am not an expert on the subject, as an artist I needed to create a memorial to these women and to celebrate their lives."
Voice 1
Flor de Tierra concentrates on the huge number of murders. But it also looks at each individual woman killed. Each woman was a special person who did not get a chance at life. Arroyo explains.
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"As I thought about the theme for this project, I was increasingly interested by the idea that these women died before their full potential was realized. Each victim may have become a modern day Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, Rosa Parks or Frida Kahlo."
Voice 2
So, what does Andrea Arroyo's project look like? Well, the project aims to show how many women have been murdered, found, or have disappeared.
Voice 1
So, the project is a series of white chalk drawings on black paper. This white mineral is easy to draw with. And it is easy to see against the dark black of the paper. Arroyo chose chalk drawings for a particular reason. In popular culture in the United States, police often draw a white chalk line around a murdered person. This is not the method real police usually use. But, it is a common image people recognize. The white chalk Arroyo uses in her art makes people think of these chalk lines.
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Each drawing represents one female victim from Juarez. It is a memorial just for her - a way to remember her. It also celebrates the woman's life - her beauty, and the chances she never had to live her life.
Voice 1
In Juarez, authorities cannot even identify many of the women found murdered. That is because they have only found parts of the women. So, many of the white chalk drawings show only one part of a woman's body - a hand, a woman's back, or her hair. Even these partial details show the tragedy of the murders.
Voice 2
Andrea Arroyo has already presented "Flor de Tierra" in places around the United States. But the whole project is not yet finished. She is only half way done. She has finished about 200 drawings. In the future she hopes to show all 400 drawings together in one place. She describes that she would show the drawings together, and without frames. She says:
Voice 3
"To me that shows how easily broken these woman are. The papers can flow in the wind and become alive. They can easily be torn and damaged."
Voice 1
Arroyo also explains how she would like to include the names of all the women victims of Juarez in the presentation of Flor de Tierra. She says she would like to hang ribbons - long, thin, pieces of cloth - above the drawings. Each ribbon would have a victim's name on it. Since many of the victims discovered are not identified, some ribbons would hang without names on them. Arroyo would also like to give out white ribbons to visitors who come to see Flor de Tierra. These ribbons would help people remember the violence that continues in Mexico.
Voice 2
Each of the women in Juarez will be remembered by their families. But now, they will also be remembered through Flor de Tierra. People will see the memorials to the women. They will see their beauty, their power, and also their weakness. And people everywhere can pray that the violence in this part of the world will stop.
Voice 1
The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid. The voices you heard were from the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can hear more Spotlight programs on our website at https://www.radio.english.net This. program is called "Flower of the Earth."
Voice 2
You can leave comments and questions on the script page of this program. You can also email us at [email protected]. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye!