[ti:Senegalese Artist Centers on Politics, Pandemic] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Violent demonstrations broke out in Senegal earlier this month [00:04.96]in protest of injustice and inequality in the country. [00:11.32]Artist Omar Ba protested in a different way: he painted. [00:18.12]Ba said that what young people are doing in the streets, [00:22.48]he is doing in his workspace near the country's capital, Dakar. [00:29.36]Ba is one of Senegal's best-known modern artists. [00:35.56]He has often used his art to make political statements. [00:41.40]Currently, some of his paintings are on show [00:45.36]at the Galerie Templon in Brussels, Belgium. [00:49.84]The show, called Anomalies, comments on power-hungry world leaders [00:55.88]through a series of paintings of imaginary heads of state. [01:01.76]An anomaly is something that is unusual or unexpected. [01:08.04]Ba said he was shocked to see such intense violence [01:12.84]on the streets of his own country. [01:16.44]"These are things I had seen on TV, but never here," he told Reuters. [01:23.48]"I think visual art is something I have to use [01:27.08]to denounce what's not working, [01:29.48]or to talk about what is positive, in society." [01:34.28]The protests began after the arrest of a popular opposition leader, [01:39.44]but widened into demonstrations about economic inequality, [01:44.48]a condition worsened by the COVID-19 crisis. [01:49.40]Thousands took to the streets. [01:52.64]Some protesters threw rocks at police. [01:57.32]Security forces fired their guns at protesters. [02:03.00]Some people worry that Senegal's President Macky Sall [02:07.12]will try to extend his rule beyond the permitted two terms. [02:13.44]Other African leaders have used constitutional changes [02:17.76]to extend their time in power. [02:21.48]Sall has not commented on whether he will seek a third term. [02:27.44]Ba normally does not give names to the subjects he paints. [02:32.72]But for his next collection, he said he might paint Sall. [02:38.84]Ba said once leaders are elected, [02:41.96]they completely change their way of thinking and speaking. [02:47.64]He said that is why he named his art show Anomalies. [02:53.64]Four of the 12 paintings in the series deal with the COVID-19 crisis. [03:00.76]Colorful shapes and Ba's own footprints cover the canvas, [03:05.92]representing a sense of confusion and how it feels to be trapped. [03:12.24]COVID-19 exposed inequality and corruption in Africa, Ba said. [03:19.84]He said the wealthy were forced to depend on the same [03:23.92]troubled public health services that the poor must use. [03:29.20]Normally, the rich seek better care elsewhere. [03:34.92]Ba said, "Nobody could take planes to get treatment [03:39.40]in Europe or the United States." [03:42.92]He add that "for once people realized [03:47.08]that in their own hospitals there was nothing." [03:51.00]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM