AN ARTIST SPEAKS OUT Ai Weiwei 1957 There are many ways to protest Some people speak up Some people use social media Some write books and articles And some like Ai Weiwei create art Ai has combined his eye-catching art with powerful words to stand up to the Chinese government’s repression of free speech and its disregard disregard for human rights Some people have described him as the most dangerous artist in the world And if dangerous means an artist who is not afraid to speak against a regime that tries to silence people who disagree with its poli cies then Ai fits the bill As the son of Ai Qing a prominent Chinese poet who was called an enemy of the people for his writing and exiled with his family to labor camps in remote parts of China Ai Weiwei understood how difficult and important important it is to stand up to a tyrannical regime Left Artist and human rights advocate Ai Weiwei holds up porcelain sunflower seeds part of his art exhibition Art is this artist’s way of pointing out injustice in his native China and around the world TAKE ACTION ARTISTS TAKE A STAND In 1937 Pablo Picasso created the painting Guernica after the bombing of a small town in Spain that killed hundreds of innocent people mostly women and children Other artists such as Jacob Lawrence Gordon Parks Banksy Dorothea Lange and Norman Rockwell have portrayed unfairness injustice and suffering through powerful paintings and photographs 7
When Ai was 19 and his family was finally allowed to return from exile he decided to study art in New York When his father became ill in 1993 Ai returned to China where he began producing his powerful and controversial controversial art In 2008 an earthquake hit China’s Sichuan Province and thousands of people were killed some because of poorly built schools Ai wrote angry blogs and created art about the tragedy Chinese government officials responded by threatening and beating him charging him with financial crimes and arresting him But that didn’t silence Ai Through his powerful photography photography film sculptures and paintings he has gained support all over the world Left Ai Weiwei highlights the refugee crisis with an art installation of life vests in Berlin Germany Ai Weiwei marches with fellow artist Amish Kapoor in support of refugees people who have been forced to flee their home and country because of political persecution poverty or famine My wish use art to turn the world inside out JR artist My favorite word Ai Weiwei artist It’s act 9
