The South African Artist Turning Plastic into Portraits南非藝術家化塑料為畫像

While other artists might use water-colors or oil paints， Mbongeni Buthelezi uses waste plastics to create highly textured portraits at his studio in Booysens， Johannesburg.

其他藝術家也許會用水彩或油畫顏料創作，而姆邦蓋尼·布特萊齊卻在他位于約翰內斯堡市布伊森斯的工作室里，使用廢塑料創作質感極佳的畫像。

His medium1 is the plastic litter he collects from local rubbish dumps and city streets. “Animals are dying， fish in the ocean are dying—because of this material and because of us as human beings，” Buthelezi said. “It is us that need to take responsibility.”

他使用的材料是從當地垃圾填埋場和城市街道上收集來的塑料垃圾。“正是因為塑料和我們人類，陸地上的動物正在死去，海里的魚也在死去。”布特萊齊說，“我們必須為此負責。”

An artist and activist， Buthelezi， 56， first found his talent for the creative as a boy in rural KwaZulu-Natal， South Africa. He sculpted clay figurines of the livestock around his village： cows， horses and goats.

56歲的布特萊齊是一名藝術家和活動家，小時候生活在南非夸祖魯-納塔爾省的農村地區，那時的他就發現了自己的創作天賦。他用黏土捏出村子里的牲畜，有奶牛、馬和山羊。

“I grew up with my father’s animals， the cattle were an important part of my life，” said Buthelezi. But not everything in this rural setting was natural.

“我和父親飼養的牲畜一起長大，牛曾是我生活中重要的一部分。”布特萊齊說。但鄉村中并非一切都是天然的。

He explained that plastic litter was so common in grazing areas that it became an unwelcome part of the cows’ regular diet. “We would see these cows die because they had eaten plastics，” Buthelezi said.

布特萊齊解釋道，塑料垃圾在牧區太常見了，已經成為奶牛日常飲食中有害的一部分。他說：“我們眼睜睜地看著奶牛因誤食塑料而死亡。”

Five decades on， South Africa still has a serious plastic pollution problem. In 2018， 107，000 metric tons of plastic waste from South Africa ended up in the marine environment. A 2015 study found that the country was one of the world’s top 20 contributors to marine plastic pollution.

50年了，南非依然有著嚴重的塑料污染問題。2018年，南非將10.7萬噸廢棄塑料排入大海。2015年的一項研究發現，南非是世界上造成海洋塑料污染最多的20個國家之一。

With plastic waste growing around the world， Buthelezi is using his work to both highlight and combat the issue.

隨著全世界的廢棄塑料不斷增多，布特萊齊正利用他的作品來強調這個問題并防止其繼續惡化。

Practical plastics

有用的塑料

Buthelezi’s use of waste wasn’t always in defense of the environment; he first began using plastic litter for his art because he couldn’t afford more trad-itional mediums.

布特萊齊使用廢塑料最開始并不是為了保護環境，而是因為他買不起常規的藝術創作材料。

At 22， when the country was still under apartheid2， he enrolled in full-time classes at a community arts school in Soweto， a township in Johannesburg. He took with him just two blankets， very little money， and a lot of optimism. There he lived in a small room and worked odd jobs between classes to afford rent and food. He had no money for materials.

他22歲那年，南非仍在實行種族隔離制度，他在索韋托（約翰內斯堡的一個黑人小鎮）的一所社區藝術學校學習全日制課程。他隨身帶著的只有兩條毯子和非常少的錢，但他十分樂觀。在那里，他住著狹小的房間，課余時間靠打零工來支付食宿費用，根本沒有余錢來買材料。

“It was the ’80s， and South Africa was facing this transitional phase where politics was very volatile，” said Buthelezi.

“那是上世紀80年代，南非正處在過渡時期，政局十分動蕩。”布特萊齊說。

He added that the political climate didn’t offer much opportunity for young Black South Africans trying to build their career， especially those from the townships. The main problem was a lack of funding.

他補充道，南非的政治環境并沒有為想在事業上有所建樹的黑人青年，尤其是來自黑人小鎮的青年，創造什么機會。他們的主要問題是沒有資金支持。

Buthelezi explained that there was no formal schooling in the townships， and the community-based institutions， like his college， received no support from the state.

布特萊齊解釋道，黑人小鎮沒有正規的學校教育，以社區為基礎的學校，比如他所就讀的學校，得不到政府的任何支持。

“The school introduced us to things like collage—using old magazines to create an artwork if you don’t have money for paints，” said Buthelezi. “Without those fancy traditional ways of making art， we expanded our way of looking at art and life.”

“學校讓我們初次了解到拼貼畫之類的東西，如果你沒錢買顏料的話，就用舊雜志創作藝術品。”布特萊齊說，“無法用十分講究的常規方式進行藝術創作，我們就拓寬自己看待藝術和生活的視野。”

“Next to my studio at the college was a dumping site，” he recalled. “I saw all of these brilliant colors， these ma-terials… and I said to myself， what can I do to make sense of these plastics that are everywhere？”

“在學校，我的工作室隔壁就是一座垃圾場。”他回憶道，“放眼望去，全都是花花綠綠的廢料……我就問自己，怎么做才能讓這些無處不在的塑料變得有價值呢？”

He began collecting plastic litter to “paint” with in lieu of expensive oil paints. He developed a technique of using an electric heat gun that produced hot air to melt the plastic and then apply it to a recycled canvas. According to Buthelezi this is more environmentally friendly than using flames to melt plastic and doesn’t release noxious fumes into the atmosphere.

他開始收集塑料垃圾來代替昂貴的油畫顏料進行“繪畫”。他發明了一種技藝，用電熱槍噴出的熱氣熔化塑料，然后將其涂抹到回收利用的畫布上。布特萊齊認為，這比用火熔化塑料更環保，而且不會向大氣中排放有毒煙霧。

After completing his studies at the African Institute of Art and subsequently the Johannesburg Art Foundation， he went on to achieve an advanced Dip-loma in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand.

布特萊齊先后在非洲藝術學院和約翰內斯堡藝術基金會完成學業，隨后又在金山大學獲得了美術專業的高級文憑。

As his career progressed， he thought back to his childhood experiences of plastic and the role plastic pollution played in the death of many of his father’s cows. By the ’90s， Buthelezi was a professional artist， and he was determined to use innovation in art for the good of the planet.

隨著職業生涯的發展，他回想起自己童年時與塑料打交道的經歷，正是塑料污染導致父親的許多奶牛死亡。上世紀90年代，布特萊齊成為一名職業藝術家，他決心利用藝術創新為地球造福。

“As an artist， I am the mirror of my society.”

“作為一名藝術家，我是自己所處社會的寫照。”

Buthelezi still makes works using the same method of melting waste plastic. The works are figurative and mostly explore the experience of growing up in a South African township. Throughout his career he has used his art to educate and begin conversations on global plastic waste. “The world we live in today can offer us everything we need to make art without manufacturing more，” he said.

布特萊齊如今仍在用熔化廢塑料的那套方法創作。他的作品是形象藝術，主要表現他自己在南非一座黑人小鎮的成長經歷。利用自己的藝術作品開展教育，并就全球塑料垃圾問題展開對話是貫穿他職業生涯的重要命題。他說：“我們今天生活的世界可以為我們提供藝術創作所需要的一切，無須為了創作制造更多的東西。”

Buthelezi has held exhibitions， participated in festivals， led workshops， and taken up artist residencies3 in countries including Germany， the USA， Barbados， Egypt， Australia， and Saudi Arabia.

布特萊齊舉辦作品展、參加藝術節、組織研討會，并在德國、美國、巴巴多斯、埃及、澳大利亞和沙特阿拉伯等國駐留工作。

“As an artist I am the mirror of my society，” says Buthelezi. “I’m supposed to reflect on what is happening on the ground where I live.” And for him， what’s “on the ground” is plastic.

“作為一名藝術家，我是自己所處社會的寫照。”布特萊齊說，“我應該反映我生活的土地上正在發生的事情。”對他來說，現在“土地上”有的就是塑料。

In March 2023， he spoke at a South African National Science and Technology Forum discussion on plastic innov-ation and at the end of 2023 he participated in an art and environment festival in Abu Dhabi.

2023年3月，布特萊齊在南非國家科技論壇的一場座談會上，發表了關于塑料創新的講話。2023年底，他參加了在阿布扎比舉辦的藝術與環境節。

Although his efforts have won widespread praise， Buthelezi says not everyone has been so supportive. “Some people say， ‘you will run out of plastics one day and then you won’t be able to do your work，’” he said. “They don’t understand that I would be happy if that happened. That is what I’m fighting for！”

盡管布特萊齊的努力贏得了廣泛贊譽，但他說并不是所有人都那么支持他的做法。“有些人說：‘總有一天你會用盡塑料的，那時你就不能創作了。’”他說，“他們根本不懂，要是真有那么一天，我會非常高興。那正是我奮斗的目標！”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者；單位：廣東外語外貿大學）

1 medium（文藝創作中使用的）材料、形式。

2 apartheid種族隔離，前南非政府自1948年至1994年推行的政策。在南非種族隔離時期，只有黑人居住的鎮稱township。

3 residency（藝術家、作家、音樂家為某機構工作的）駐留時間，駐留期。