Faces of the doomed: Artist immortalizes 5,500 shelter dogs by painting each of their portraits before they are put down
A Kentucky artist is on a mission to paint 5,500 portraits of shelter dogs doomed to be put to sleep. That’s the number of dogs killed per day in U.S. shelters, a number that shocked Mark Barone enough to start doing something about it. By putting a face to the statistic, Barone hopes to spread awareness of the plight of homeless animals in the U.S.
狗狗，向來是人類最忠實的朋友，也難怪有許多藝術家或導演喜歡以「狗」為主題來創作。雖然現今大家一直呼籲「以認養代替購買」，但世界各地的流浪狗數量還是沒有下降的趨勢。美國肯塔基州的一位畫家Mark Barone，有別於其他創作者，他用他的專長來完成一項使命：為被宣判安樂死的5,500隻狗兒作畫。這個數字是美國收容所每天平均被安樂死的狗狗數量，而這個驚人的數字震驚了Mark，讓他想為此做些事來改變。
- Doomed (adj.) 命中注定的；命訂的；天數已盡的
- Doom (v.) 注定；判決；使毀滅
The project was doomed to failure. 這工程注定失敗。
- Immortalize (v.) 使永恆不滅；使不朽
- on a mission 在執行一項使命
- put to sleep 使入睡；安樂死
Stray dogs are usually put to sleep if no one claims them.
走失的狗如果無人認領通常就會將它安樂死。
It began after Barone’s own dog of 21 years, Santina, died three years ago. His partner Marina Dervan thought it would be a good idea to adopt a new dog.
'Mark was not interested,' Dervan told Fast Company. 'He just wasn't ready…But that didn't stop me. I was going online and looking at dogs. But instead of finding a dog, I found out all of the statistics about what was going on in terms of the amount of animals who were being killed in our shelter system.'
Dervan said she began sending the alarming information along to Mark who, at first, didn’t want to look at it. 'Two days later, he said, "I have a really clear vision of what I want to do to solve the problem.”’
這項使命的起源來自於三年前Mark自己的狗狗Santina過世，而Mark 的伴侶Marina Dervan認為「領養一隻新的狗」是療傷的好方法。
Marina告訴記者，其實Mark對這個主意完全提不起勁，他還沒有準備好迎接新的成員，不過他也沒有反對。起初我只是上網隨意瀏覽一下，並沒有認真的在找尋家中的新成員，卻反倒發現這個驚人的統計數據。
當Marina告訴Mark這個異常的信息後，一開始Mark連看都不看一眼，兩天後卻對Marina說：「我有一個非常明確的願景，就是我想做些什麼來解決這個問題。」
- in terms of 就‥而言
In terms of money, he's quite rich, but not in terms of happiness.
就金錢而言他很富有，但就幸福來說就不然了。
Barone decided to paint 5,500 portraits using photos posted to shelter websites. According to ABC News, various shelters send Barone photos of dogs that have been put to sleep, in order that they be memorialized.
The goal is to create a massive memorial that will help spread the word about the problem of countless dog deaths in kill shelters across America. ‘There is a no-kill solution,’ Dervan said, ‘which more and more shelters are beginning to use. We are trying to raise awareness and spread education on the topic.’
Mark Barone打算畫5,500張的狗狗畫像，並張貼在收容所的網站上。根據ABC新聞的報導，各地收容所將安樂死的狗狗照片發送給Mark，讓他為牠們作畫。
我們的目標是舉辦一個大規模的追思會，這將有助於讓大家知道這個驚人的數據。Marina Dervan說：「其實有一個不用殺生的解決辦法，而且越來越多的收容所也開始跟進，就是我們正在努力提高以及教育社會大眾對流浪狗議題的認識。」
- Countless (adj.) 無數的；數不盡的
We have countless reasons against his plan. 我們有無數個理由反對他的計劃。
T-Bone: Devan and Barone are on a mission to help more animal shelter convert to no-kill shelters
Jim: 'We are trying to raise awareness and spread education on the topic,' say Dervan. Jim was described as a 'sad and withdrawn' dog
Barone works on his portraits everyday starting in the morning and sometimes continues well into the night. Pictured is Manny
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2411823/Artist-Mark-Barone-immortalizing-5-5k-doomed-shelter-dogs-memorial-portraits.html
