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I was absolutely engrossed in this book from start to finish. I am in awe of Ai Weiwei and his father. I empathized with them on a deep level as an artist and as the daughter of immigrants from a communist country. The information about what they went through as political prisoners and of China‘s history was interesting and shocking at times. The personal anecdotes pertaining to their family and their art process was profound and intriguing… ⬇️

“Today‘s censorship touches on all aspects of life—from the internet and newspapers to books, concerts, and art exhibitions. It nullifies the individual‘s sense of self and experience of life: ideas give way to compliance, speech becomes flattery, and existence is reduced to servility.”

“Limitations come only from a fear inside the heart, and art is the antidote to fear.”

“Freedom of expression became a central meaning of my art, for personal freedom is the highest value that we can know.”

“…living in this era, you need to confront its reality. If art cannot engage with life, it has no future.”

“When administrative power is unlimited, when the judiciary is subject to no scrutiny, when information is shielded from public view, society is bound to operate in the absence of justice and morality. Corruption of the judiciary is the public face of a morally bankrupt body politic, a scar disfiguring the era in which we live.”

“The difficulty in making something happen, I have found, is often directly correlated to its importance: things that come easy aren‘t worth doing.”

“No matter how strong a power, it can never suppress individuality, stifle freedom, or avert contempt for its ignorance.”

“My view was simply that painting was something I wanted to do, and I had no wish to submit myself to any particular standard; right from the start I refused to let myself be limited by established practices and conventional rules.”

“With art I opened up a space that was new to me, an abandoned space infested with weeds, in wild and desolate ruin. Perhaps what I was doing was decadent and self-indulgent, but it offered the prospect of self-redemption and a path toward detachment and escape.”

“But despite all the difficulties, he had published more than two hundred poems and essays and three books of poetry, fulfilling his vow to write with the same indomitable stubbornness that a soldier would need to fight a battle.”

Not the best photo, but the sun is setting, and a summer rain cloud just past through as I sat on the porch to get some fresh air as I read.

Feeling like some nonfiction next… this one has been waiting in my TBR pile for a while.

Global symbol, contemporary Chinese artist and human rights activist, Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood spent in exile with his convicted father, who was the nation's greatest poet, his youth in America and his return to China, where his life and art were impacted by the totalitarian regime.
With tremendous creativity and strong political convictions, he reminds the world it is crucial to protect the freedom of expression.

Never forget that under a totalitarian system, cruelty and absurdity go hand in hand.

Happy new year from me and Bunbun. We will be going into 2022 reading Ai Weiwei‘s memoir to stay clear of the virus. Stay healthy, safe and free my fellow book lovers! May happier times lay ahead of us 🍀🍾🎊

#newyearseve #happynewyear #readingbuddy #aiweiwei #whiterabbit #memoir #2021 #2022

First off, I‘d like to state that I was so impressed with Ai WeiWei‘s art, activism, and life- that deserves 5/5 stars. I really liked some parts of the book, but other portions- though I was interested- I slogged through it. His life was really interesting and he does an excellent job connecting his art to his activism. Good, not great.

I adored this book. This was the best book I have read in such a long time. It helped me learn about the people‘s republic of China through Ai Weiwei‘s experiences and his fathers. I wish I could read this many times over.

When I saw Ai Weiwei‘s ancient vases covered in paint in a museum, I scratched my head & wondered if he was nuts. Conceptual art is like that. Reading his memoir illuminated much: what an amazing, fascinating life he has lived until now! The world-famous artist is a born contrarian who uses his creative energy to battle human rights abuses in China. I look at his work (online) with new understanding. #Audiobook read by David Shih.

Self-censorship amounts to self-abasement, and timidity is the road to despair. People asked me, How do you dare say those things on your blog? My answer was, If I don‘t say them, it will put me in an even more dangerous situation. But if I say them, change might occur. To speak is better than not to speak. If everyone spoke, the society would have transformed itself long ago. ↘️

A state security agent […] presented me with a packet of beef jerky, a carton of tea, and a live, giant salamander—a rare creature that I had never seen before in my life—along with a set of tips on how to cook it. I remember only the first line of the instructions, that you need to nail it to a chopping board & then cut it into pieces. We did not do this, and kept the salamander as a pet.

China executes more people than any other country. It accounts for more than half the executions in the world.

Things have to follow a set procedure in China. No matter how you argue your case, an individual has no right to challenge authority and humiliation is often presented as an honour that you are fortunate to receive.

—To conventional culture, art should be a nail in the eye. A spike in the flesh. Gravel in the shoe. The reason why art cannot be ignored is that it destabilizes that which seems settled and secure.
—Don‘t try to dream other people‘s dreams.

(Examples of advice Weiwei has given to young artists)

Father accepted his lot stoically. As he put it, earlier in life he had no idea who cleaned toilets for him, and so it wasn‘t unreasonable to expect him to now do cleaning for others.

In China, no matter what choice you make when you come to a crossroads in life, it is hard to avoid becoming politic‘s plaything.

In the early days of the cultural revolution, almost every day, or every night, there were directives from Chairman Mao to transmit. The company‘s copy clerk would write them down word by word and line by line as they were read out over the telephone. These messages served a function similar to Donald Trump‘s late night tweets while in office. They were the direct communication of a leader‘s thoughts to his devoted followers.

Word spread online of the locations of simultaneous Jasmine Revolution rallies in China‘s major cities at 2 pm on Feb 20. No sooner had the news begun to spread than the characters for jasmine were blocked on the internet in China, & even the character for flower became a sensitive word. On Chinese language websites it was impossible to input sentences that included the word tomorrow or today. Florists were not allowed to sell jasmine blossoms.

The work involved in making a single sunflower seed was no less complicated than the making of other ceramics, with more than 20 steps in the production process. Surely such a project can be done on such a large scale only in today‘s China, where it‘s possible to hire 1600 skilled artisans to work on a project with their own hands, all at the same time.
(Internet photo of Ai Weiwei‘s sunflower seeds at the Tate Modern)

Audiobaking with 20th century Chinese history in my ears. (Making Snowy-Topped Brownie Drops from Dorie‘s Cookies.)

What a fascinating story about a father and his son (& then his son) in China. Art really does play an important role in societies. Definitely worth reading!

Gave into the fomo and it was still available! #NewReleaseTuesday