Ai Weiwei is a Shocker

Arts & CultureFebruary 2, 2016
Ai Weiwei is a Shocker

So what do we think of Ai Weiwei as he hits a new low by crassly recreating a photo of the drowned Syrian toddler? Art? Commentary? The refugee child, Alan Kurdi, who washed up on a beach near the Turkish town of Bodrum in September 2015 has become the latest subject of Weiwei’s work. Taken by the Indian photojournalist Rohit Chawla for India Today, the print was also exhibited at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, as part of a curated exhibition simply titled “The Artists.” There are the criticizers our there, but it is definitely a shock tactic to grab our attention, given the public’s short memory span to realize what is going on around us. Weiwei lies facedown on a pebble beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, where the artist has set up a studio to work on several projects dealing with the European migration crisis. Thoughts, anyone?

Author: Tabitha Karp

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