1 . In Song of the Whale, an installation at the Yukon Arts Centre, Joyce Majiski shared the story of a one-year old humpback whale(座头鲸) who died after she was caught in a fishery rope.
In the centre of the show is an eight-metre-long model of the baby whale’s skeleton(骨架), each bone carved(雕刻) from Styrofoam(聚苯乙烯泡塑料) collected from the ocean and beaches.
“Water is the one thing that connects us all --–we’re a planet of water---and we have a lot of disrespect for it.”
“There are a lot of things that we have done to contribute to the death of these creatures. Again, we need to pay attention to what we’re doing. If we thought about how connected we are as creatures on this planet, maybe we’d do things a little differently,” Majiski said.
Speaking of starting to set up the project, she describes it as “despairing.” Eventually, the search for an intact(完无缺的) whale skeleton that would allow the study of individual bones led her to Salt Spring Island. There, Majiski studied each bone of the young humpback whale, first in sketch (素描) form and then by carving models from collected Styrofoam.
The majority of the Styrofoam came from the Ocean Legacy Foundation, a non-profit that does ocean cleanups. The organisation says over 6.5 million tons of rubbish enter the world’s ocean each year. When degrading (降解) in the ocean, Styrofoam breaks down into small particles that can be eaten by ocean animals.
It is also messy material to work with as an artist.
"The Styrofoam looks really awful. It’s all big pieces that are black and crumbly(易碎的). They’ve been floating around in the ocean and degrading and washed up on shore.
“It’s really dirty and crumbly and I didn’t want to breathe any in as I carved. I mean, I wore a mask all the time and coveralls and gloves. I was cleaning myself and everything every hour or so depending on how much I was carving,” said Maiiski.
In total, Majiski carved 177 pieces.
1. What is Majiski’s purpose in holding the show?| A．To get people to think about ocean pollution. |
| B．To show the artistic attraction of carving. |
| C．To call on people to reduce fish catches. |
| D．To encourage the recycling of waste. |
| A．To spend a holiday. |
| B．To study where whales are found. |
| C．To look for a suitable whale skeleton. |
| D．To raise money for animal protection. |
| A．Styrofoam. | B．The baby whale. |
| C．Working with plastics. | D．Carving the whale s skeleton. |
| A．It was quick and smooth. | B．It was slow but interesting. |
| C．It was boring and depressing. | D．It was difficult but meaningful. |
