韓國藝術家因嘲弄總統而遭遇審查

After 250 South Korean high school students died in the sinking of the Sewol ferry in April, the artist Hong Sung-dam lashed out at a political and business elite he considers responsible for the disaster, doing so in the way he knows best. He painted, pouring his protest onto canvas just as he did during the country’s long years of military dictatorship.

今年4月，250名韓國高中生在“世越號”（舊譯“歲月號”）渡輪沉船事件中喪生。之後，藝術家洪成潭用他最擅長的方式猛烈抨擊他心目中應對此次災難負責的政治和商業精英。他採用的方式是繪畫，就像在韓國漫長的軍事獨裁時期，他把自己的抗議傾注到畫布上那樣。

He was not imprisoned this time, as he was in the waning years of military-backed rule. But Mr. Hong’s 34 foot by 8 foot canvas, which includes a caricature of President Park Geun-hye, was pulled from South Korea’s best-known international art festival in a type of censorship usually reserved for those accused of supporting communist North Korea.

這一次他沒像在軍事統治末期那樣被囚禁，但是他那些34英尺寬、8英尺高的畫作（包括一幅諷刺總統朴槿惠的漫畫）從韓國最著名的國際藝術展上撤掉了，這種審查通常只針對那些被認爲支持共產主義朝鮮的人。

“This is a ridiculous insult to an artist,” Mr. Hong said of the treatment of the painting, in which Ms. Park is depicted as a puppet controlled by her late father, who led the country for nearly two decades after engineering a coup. “What they did was proof of what I tried to say in the painting. Under Park Geun-hye, the country is reverting to the old practices of her father’s era, repressing freedom of expression.”

“這是對藝術家的荒謬侮辱，”洪成潭談起這幅畫的遭遇時說。畫中朴槿惠被描繪爲被其亡父控制的傀儡，他在發動政變後領導該國將近20年。“他們的做法驗證了我的畫想表達的東西。在朴槿惠的統治下，這個國家正在向她父親統治時期的舊做法轉變，壓制言論自由。”

Ms. Park’s administration has come under withering criticism since the disaster, first for a botched rescue effort, then for resisting the kind of broad independent investigation the victims’ families have demanded into the muddled emergency response and the lax government regulatory system many say helped lead to the sinking.

朴槿惠政府在災難發生後遭到了猛烈批評，首先是救援工作遲緩，然後是拒絕按照遇難者家屬的要求，對混亂的應急措施和鬆懈的政府監管體系進行廣泛的獨立調查，很多人認爲後者亦是導致沉船的原因。

The painting, which Mr. Hong painted with other artists he invited to participate, shows the doomed ship at its center, upside down. Two enormous figures have lifted it out of the water, and — in an imagined happier ending — the passengers are emerging from the boat, smiling and waving. Surrounding that scene is a phantasmagoria of politically charged images from South Korean history, some dating from the country’s years of military rule. A prisoner is tortured under interrogation, and sinister figures lurk, wearing sunglasses and army uniforms.

洪成潭邀請其他藝術家一起繪製了這幅畫。畫的中央是遇難渡輪，它上下顛倒。兩個巨人把它從水裏拉出來，在想象中更愉快的結局裏，乘客們從船裏出來，微笑着揮手。周圍是韓國曆史上因政治獲罪者們的幻影，有些來自該國的軍事統治時期。一個犯人正在被刑訊，戴着墨鏡、穿着軍裝的邪惡人物若隱若現。

Gwangju’s leaders defended their initial refusal to allow the painting in the festival, the Gwangju Biennale, an act that was unexpected in a city with a long history of resistance to conservative political power.

光州的市領導爲他們最初拒絕在光州雙年展上展出這幅畫進行了辯護。該市具有抵制保守政治勢力的漫長曆史，所以這一做法出人意料。

“We demanded the exclusion of Mr. Hong’s painting because of its explicit political intention, such as the parodying of the president,” Oh Hyeong-guk, a vice mayor of Gwangju, told reporters this month, adding that the city could not tolerate such a work in an art exhibition it helped finance. But as criticism mounted, the city later backtracked a bit, leaving the final decision to the festival’s authorities, who banned the painting.

“我們要求撤掉洪成潭的油畫，是因爲它具有明顯的政治意圖，比如嘲弄總統，”光州市副市長吳炯國本月對記者說。他又補充，該市不能容忍在自己資助的藝術展上出現這樣的作品。但是因爲遭到越來越多的批評，該市後來做出了點讓步，把最終決定權留給該展覽的主辦方，後者禁止展出該畫。

Some artists pulled out of the biennale in protest, and a few of its top officials resigned, saying they were torn between defending Mr. Hong’s freedom of expression and respecting the wishes of the city, one of the event’s main financial backers.

有些藝術家撤出雙年展以示抗議，該展覽的幾位高級主管因此辭職，稱他們在維護洪成潭的言論自由和尊重該市的意願之間左右爲難。光州市是該展覽的主要贊助者。

The controversy, which Ms. Park’s office has not commented on, has renewed longstanding questions about the limits to artistic expression in South Korea.

朴槿惠的辦公室未對該爭議作出評論。這場爭議重新挑起了韓國民衆對藝術表達限制的質疑，這種質疑長久以來就存在着。

South Korean artists are vastly freer than they were under military rule, when a brand of crayon called Picasso was once banned because of the artist’s Communist associations. But artists who venture into political satire — like other government critics — often say they feel ostracized and harassed, and unflattering depictions of political leaders can lead to lawsuits and even criminal defamation charges.

比起軍事統治時期，韓國藝術家已經自由了很多，當時一種名爲畢加索(Picasso)的蠟筆曾被禁止銷售，只因爲畢加索與共產主義有關係。但是大膽進行政治諷刺的藝術家，乃至其他批評政府的人經常聲稱感覺被排斥和騷擾，對政治領袖們毫不奉承的描述可能導致訴訟，甚至被判誹謗罪。

For Mr. Hong, a 59-year-old painter who decades ago was jailed and tortured for his political expression, the fight over the painting is the latest skirmish in a long battle with repressive forces he believes are still at work.

59歲的洪成潭幾十年前曾因政治表達而遭到囚禁、拷打。他認爲自己在與仍然存在的壓迫勢力進行漫長的戰鬥。對他來說，圍繞這幅畫的鬥爭只是其中的最新一次小衝突。

“He is the last standing artist of resistance from the days of dictatorship,” said Gim Jong-gil, an art critic.

“他是來自獨裁時代的最後一位長期反抗的藝術家，”藝術批評家金永吉（音譯）說。

As a young man, Mr. Hong studied art in Gwangju, which in the 1970s was a center of activism against the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, Ms. Park’s father. By the time Mr. Park’s rule ended with his assassination in late 1979, Mr. Hong was an award-winning painter and a participant in the city’s underground pro-democracy movement.

洪成潭年輕時曾在光州學藝術，在20世紀70年代反對朴槿惠之父朴正熙獨裁統治的運動中，光州是活動中心。朴正熙1979年末被刺殺，結束統治，當時洪成潭已經是一位備受讚譽的畫家，是該市地下民主運動的參與者。

Hopes that Mr. Park’s death would lead to democratization were soon crushed as power was seized by Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, one of Mr. Park’s protégés who was the head of military intelligence during the last year of his rule. Gwangju erupted in protests, and the regime sent tanks and paratroopers into the city in May 1980, killing hundreds.

人們本希望朴正熙遇刺能帶來民主，但是很快希望就破滅了，因爲大權落入了朴正熙的門徒全斗煥將軍手中，他在朴正熙統治的最後一年主管軍事情報部。1980年5月，光州爆發抗議活動，政府派出坦克和空降兵，殺害了成百上千人。

“I saw with my own eyes so many of my friends and colleagues killed,” Mr. Hong said. “I decided then and there I would make it my lifetime duty to record and indict state brutality. Painting is my language, my picket protest, my placard.”

“我親眼看着我的很多朋友和同事被害，”洪成潭說，“我當場決定，把記錄和控訴政府暴行作爲我的終身責任。繪畫就是我的語言，我的抗議，我的標語。”

Under Mr. Chun’s rule, Mr. Hong, who was often on the run from the authorities, produced lithographs depicting scenes from the Gwangju massacre. But he is best known for his large canvases, which have often focused on South Koreans who suffered at the hands of their leaders.

全斗煥統治時期，東躲西藏的洪成潭創作了很多描繪光州大屠殺場面的平版畫。不過他最著名的作品是大型油畫，它們的主題往往是那些因國家領導人而遭受苦難的韓國人。

Mr. Hong’s works, along with pieces by other activist artists, were put to use by the student-led democracy movement of the 1980s. Police officers using tear gas raided university campuses and tore their paintings down.

20世紀80年代學生領導的民主運動經常使用洪成潭等藝術活動家們的作品。警察曾用催淚彈突襲大學校園，撕毀他們的畫作。

Although Mr. Hong escaped imprisonment during the darkest years of dictatorship, he was arrested in 1989 as the country was moving toward democracy. Mr. Hong was arrested after sending slides of some of his work, including a painting that depicted the Gwangju uprising, to Korean-Americans who were headed to a youth festival in Pyongyang, North Korea. He was deemed to have violated the National Security Law, still in effect today, which prohibits any act judged to be “helping the enemy” in North Korea. He was interrogated under torture and spent three years in prison.

雖然洪成潭在最黑暗的獨裁時期躲過了牢獄之災，卻在1989年該國走向民主時被捕。他把自己部分作品的幻燈（其中一幅畫描繪的是光州起義）發給了前往朝鮮平壤參加一個青年節的一些韓裔美國人，因此被捕。他被認爲違反了國家安全法。該法如今依然有效，它禁止任何被認定爲“幫助”朝鮮“敵人”的行爲。他遭受刑訊，在獄中度過了三年。

After South Korea’s transition to democracy in the 1990s, most artists who had been active in the resistance to military rule moved on to other themes. But Mr. Hong continued to produce politically oriented work. In 2012, when the conservative Ms. Park ran for president, he made her a target. One scathing painting showed Ms. Park doing the now-famous “Gangnam Style” dance created by a South Korean performer. She was dancing below a noose, an allusion to the hanging of dissidents under her father’s regime. Another painting put Ms. Park in a delivery room, having just given birth to a baby who resembles her late father.

20世紀90年代韓國向民主社會過渡之後，大多數在反抗軍事統治中非常活躍的藝術家轉向了其他主題。但是洪成潭繼續創作有政治導向的作品。2012年，保守派朴槿惠競選總統時，他把她當成了一個靶子。在他的一幅尖刻的油畫中，朴槿惠在一個絞架下面跳起了韓國藝人創作的著名舞蹈《江南Style》，絞架暗指她父親統治時期對異見者實施絞刑。在另一幅畫中，朴槿惠在產房裏剛生了一個酷似其先父的孩子。

Furious conservative politicians have compared Mr. Hong to Joseph Goebbels. The National Election Committee accused him of violating South Korean election law, which prohibits defaming candidates with the intent of preventing their election. But he was not charged. (Another artist, Lee Ha, was less fortunate; he was indicted after depicting Ms. Park as Snow White, holding a rotten apple with her father’s image engraved in its skin. He was acquitted two years later.)

憤怒的保守派政客們把洪成潭比作約瑟夫·戈培爾(Joseph Goebbels)。韓國選舉委員會指控他違反韓國選舉法，該法禁止爲阻止候選人當選而進行詆譭。但是他未被起訴（另一位藝術家李哈[Lee Ha音譯]就沒這麼幸運了。他把朴槿惠描繪成白雪公主，手裏拿着一個爛蘋果，蘋果皮上刻着其父的形象，他因此遭到起訴，兩年後被判無罪）。

“Sewol Owol,” Mr. Hong’s painting about the ferry sinking, alludes both to the disaster of the ferry, the Sewol, and the Gwangju killings. (“Owol” means May, the month when the massacre occurred.) Both events hit especially close to home for Mr. Hong, who not only witnessed the Gwangju murders, but has lived for years in Ansan, the city where the high school students who died aboard the Sewol were from.

洪成潭的畫作《世越五月》(Sewol Owol)既指沉沒的渡輪“世越號”，也指光州大屠殺（Owol的意思是五月，大屠殺就是在五月份發生的）。這兩起事件都觸到了洪成潭的痛處，他不僅見證了光州大屠殺，而且在安山市生活了很多年——“世越號”渡輪上的高中生就是來自安山市。

One of those students, a girl who was in her junior year and who he said came from a poor family, worked part-time at his studio to help earn money and pick up skills to pursue her dream of being a painter. “Thirty-four years after the Gwangju massacre, in the Sewol disaster, I saw another massacre perpetrated by a cartel of crude capitalist businesses, corrupt bureaucrats and an irresponsible and feckless government,” Mr. Hong said, referring to the corporate greed and government corruption that investigators say contributed to the disaster. “This was state brutality.”

其中一名三年級的女生家境貧寒，在洪成潭的工作室裏做兼職貼補家用，同時爲追求當畫家的夢想學習繪畫技巧。“在光州大屠殺發生34年後，在‘世越號’沉船災難中，我看到了另一場屠殺，兇手是野蠻的資本主義公司、腐敗的官員和不負責任的政府，”洪成潭說。他指的是公司的貪婪和政府的腐敗，調查者說政府的腐敗也是這次災難的原因之一。“這是國家的暴行。”

After the city’s original rejection of his work, he retooled the painting, slightly. He replaced the caricature of the president with a chicken, a reference to a nickname used by critics: Geun-hye, the chicken. Startled city officials rejected that version as well.

在該市第一次拒絕他的作品之後，他對畫作稍微做了一點修改。他用一隻小雞代替總統的漫畫——小雞是批評家們對朴槿惠的謔稱。大爲震驚的市政府官員們也拒絕了這個版本。

Mr. Hong sees the reaction to the Sewol painting as symptomatic of a dysfunctional society that cannot discuss its problems openly. Such a society, he said, is prone to disasters.

洪成潭認爲政府對“世越號”畫作的反應表明這個社會功能失調，不能公開討論自己的問題。他說這樣的社會容易發生災難。

“Satirizing political power should not be a crime,” he said.

“諷刺政治權力不應該是一種罪行，”他說。