一位保加利亚艺术家制作的一系列另类欧洲地图近来在网络上受到热捧。在这些地图中，每个国家和地区的名字都用别国国民对其固有的印象来标注，例如，在名为“美国眼中的欧洲”的地图上，法国被标注为“气味难闻的人们”，德国被标为“下流的色情”，而英国则被标为“木乃伊”。该系列其它的作品包括“英国眼中的欧洲”、“法国眼中的欧洲”、“德国眼中的欧洲”、“意大利眼中的欧洲“以及”保加利亚眼中的欧洲”等。这位艺术家表示最初有灵感想要创作这样的另类地图是在2009年乌克兰和俄罗斯发生天然气争端的时候，最初只是跟朋友逗乐，后来放到个人网站受到人们欢迎，才决定要认真做该系列地图。他制作的第一幅地图名为“我生活的地方”，在图中，俄罗斯被标注为“偏执的石油帝国”，而乌克兰则被称为“盗油者”。
A series of maps of Europe labeled according to national stereotypes has become an internet sensation with half a billion hits.
Yanko Tsvetkov, a Bulgarian designer and illustrator living in London, has produced seven maps in which countries and regions are labeled according to the stereotypes of their inhabitants held by the people of other nationalities.
In a map titled Europe According to USA, Russia is blocked out in red and labeled "Commies" while France reads "Smelly People" and Germany reads "dirty porn". Britain is simply labeled: "Mummy".
In the map of Europe according to Britain, the mainland is labeled "Evil Federated Empire of Europe" while Ireland reads "Rascals" and Turkey is labeled "No Pork Meals Here".
Mr Tsvetkov, 33, said he was inspired to create the first map in the series during the gas row between Ukraine and Russia in 2009.
In the first map, titled Where I Live, Russia is labeled "Paranoid Oil Empire", while Ukraine is labeled "Gas Stealers".
The graphic designer said: "I created the first one in 2009 because at that time there was an energy crisis in Europe. I just created it to amuse my friends but when I put it up on my website so many people liked it that I decided to really focus on the project of mapping the stereotypes based on different places in Europe. I was surprised by the reaction because I never really expected it to take off like this."Mr Tsvetkov's website has been inundated with around half a billion visitors since he published the series, called Mapping Stereotypes.
As well as maps of Europe according to the US and Britain, the continent is shown as seen by France, Germany, Italy and Bulgaria. |