'Chinese trailblazing dissident artist Ai Weiwei launches his largest single work ever,focused on refugees. Called "Law of the Journey", the 70-metre-long (230-foot-long) inflatable boat with 258 oversize refugee figures is on display at Prague's National Gallery. Called Law of the Journey, the show features a 70-metre-long inflatable boat with 258 oversize refugee figures.
It is a tribute to the thousands who have drowned
crossing the Mediterranean, the piece is Ai’s biggest-ever installation.A topic Ai has been particularly vocal about in the past.
It will be on display until the end of the year. It certainly makes a particularly powerful statement. The site-specific installation that went on exhibit last Thursday and was made in
a Chinese factory that produces dinghies used by actual refugees,
“My message is very clear: being a politician or
a political group, you cannot be so short-sighted, you cannot have no
vision, you cannot sacrifice human dignity and human rights for
political gain,” Ai said.“My message is very clear: being a politician or a political group, you
cannot be so short-sighted, you cannot have no vision, you cannot
sacrifice human dignity and human rights for political gain,” Ai added..The Czech Republic and the other post Communist central European members have rejected EU plans to allow Muslim refugees on their territories throughout the migrant crisis. According to the European Commission, the Czech Republic has so far accepted 12 migrants for relocation. Data from the International Organisation for Migration shows that over 1.2 million people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since 2015.
“If we see somebody who has been victimised by
war or desperately trying to find a peaceful place, if we don’t accept
those people, the real challenge and the real crisis is not of all the
people who feel the pain but rather for the people who ignore to
recognise it or pretend that it doesn’t exist,” said Ai.
“That is both a tragedy and a crime,” said the 59-year-old painter, sculptor and photographer.
Ai spent the last year visiting such migrant and
refugee hotspots as the US-Mexican border badlands to the
Turkish-Syrian frontier and crowded holding camps on Greek islands.
An outspoken critic of the
Chinese government, Ai was detained in 2011 for 81 days and had his
passport confiscated for four years.He later travelled to Berlin where his wife and son live.Recently
he has staged several high-profile exhibitions inspired by migrants,
including decking out the columns of Berlin's Konzerthaus with 14,000
orange life jackets from Lesbos, which is.an entry point for many migrants trying to reach western Europe from Turkey.Last month, he said he looked on in dismay at the Trump presidency, the US entry ban on Syrian refugees, the attempt to deny visas to citizens of several mainly Muslim nations, the pledge to build a wall with Mexico and invoke mass deportations.
People are already finding it a particularly powerful statement.
Comments underneath Ai’s Instagram posts of the installation show how much of an impact his work has made.https://www.instagram.com/aiww/?hl=en
They include “Deeply moving! The enormity and profound silence” from @moniqueloveringstudio and “An astounding and emotionally charged work, it’s beautiful too, which it has to be to represent the sad story. Thank you as always for what you do,” from @michaelbirtphoto.
They include “Deeply moving! The enormity and profound silence” from @moniqueloveringstudio and “An astounding and emotionally charged work, it’s beautiful too, which it has to be to represent the sad story. Thank you as always for what you do,” from @michaelbirtphoto.
Ai Weiwei slams 'harmful' politicians ignoring refugees
No comments:
Post a Comment