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Ai Weiwei Analysis

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Ai Weiwei is an extraordinary man that puts his life at risk every day for the people of China. He has been in jail on several occasions because of the way he expresses himself openly and as a result, is watched very closely by the Chinese Government. Ai Weiwei uses his artwork to show his viewpoint on issues in China such as human rights and freedom of expression. Not only does he use his artwork to show this, he also uses social media such as Twitter and Instagram to reach out to the public. Ai Weiwei uses the art that he creates and social media to share his ideas to the world, which ultimately is helping him in his fight with the Chinese Government. Ai Weiwei’s use of internet activism helps him inform millions of people in a way that has …show more content…

An example of this would be a piece that he made where he transcribed his Twitter posts from 2009 to 2013 onto traditional rice paper, called An Archive. Ai Weiwei comments on his artwork; “ I consider all of my expressions a part of my art. Sometimes it takes a traditional form of language and, at other times, it requires the creation of a new language” (Artnet News). He refers to the traditional form of language because of the Mandarin language that he used to transcribe his posts. The new language that he is referring to are his twitter posts, which is a new way to share his expressions. Because of the fact that Ai Weiwei is banned from using his Chinese Twitter, the act of printing and publishing his tweets expresses his activism on social media through his personal artwork. He explains that his, “focus has not changed, the form it manifests in can change” (Artnet News). This idea shows that whatever the government does to stop Ai Weiwei expressing himself, he will always come up with new ways do so; in this case, through his art. The use of social media interconnected with his art help Ai Weiwei express himself and help him fight for human rights and freedom of expression in

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