Life Jackets
Ai WeiWei
Life Jackets
Used life jackets cover a façade, suggesting protective padding or a fortified barricade. But these personal flotation devices are the very ones used by thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe. The life jackets were recovered by Ai Weiwei in 2016 on the Greek island of Lesbos. They form a colourful border, an artifact of the migrant crisis confronting us with the journeys of those ready to do whatever it takes to escape the violence of war.
Year created : 2016
Materials : Life Jackets
Number of items : 2000
Dimensions : Variable
Notes : Can be adapted to different sites in various ways.
Ai WeiWei, BEIJING
Ai Weiwei is an artist from Beijing whose activist, iconoclastic, and subversive art practice critiques the power imbalances of the world. His works are collected by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
