The nature of art as a medium through which ideas are spread means it could either be appropriated or denounced by the government. As a political artist in China, one treads on thin ice.
Artist Ai Wei Wei can only take his art out of his country into the Tate gallery of London. One of his installations composed of a vast spread of handcrafted porcelain sunflower seeds, which sent the message of the Chinese as a homogenous and destitute mass. When he cordoned off the area later during the exhibition, claiming the trampled sunflower seeds were emitting hazardous dust, Mr Ai was perhaps pointing to the volatile ire of the Chinese.
Mr. Ai is publicly attacking the political authority, increasingly, in a no holds barred way. Most notably, he denounced the Beijing Olympics as a “PR Sham”, whose stadium – the Bird Nest – he had designed. His criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party had precedence in the 1990s when he photographed himself making a rude gesture in front of Tiananmen Square.
Ai Weiwei. Pic: AP.
Unsurprisingly he has come under close scrutiny from the political authorities. He was recently released after being detained for two months because of tax evasion, or so the official narrative goes.
But whether this is a cover-up, conjectures can easily be made through a cursory examination of Mr Ai’s interactions with the authorities. In January this year, authorities were given the order to demolish his studio, and in 2009, he was beaten up by the police and underwent surgery for a life-threatening hemorrhage.
Censorship in China is no new news, but it is appalling to see the extent to which a country that is economically progressive continues to clamp down on activists while ignoring the younger population’s demands for change.
China’s mircroblog, Sina Weibo, is banning words with slightest connection to Mr. Ai. According to CNN, they include, “release,” “AWW” and “the fat guy.” Previously, the phrase “love the future,” which looks and sounds like his name in Mandarin, was used as a code to spread their support for him and express their discontent. This has purportedly been banned, as well.
But if the Chinese government seemed to be high handed with its artists in contemporary times, Han Han, the literary ‘pop-star’, said, “their thinking process is a bit old-fashioned and stupid, but not evil. Except towards people who they believe might threaten the government, of course this relates mostly to many political events in the past.”
Mr. Han who is touted as the advocator for youths in China comments on political issues such as freedom of speech on his blog. But understanding his precarious position vis-à-vis the government, he often, with savviness, shrouds his incendiary criticisms in metaphors, humorous anecdotes, and avoids directly confronting the authorities.
Han Han’s alternative literary magazine, “独唱团” (A Chorus solo) had run into problems with the authorities and collapsed about a year after it was first published. He avoided pointing to the propaganda department as responsible for the magazine’s termination and carefully worded his response: “I don’t know what was wrong. I don’t know who I’ve displeased. I’m standing in the light while you are in the dark. If we ever met, I will not hold a grudge, but please could you tell me what happened.”
Both Ai Wei Wei and Han stand on the metaphorical precipice, each to different degrees because of their approach, as they struggle to express the discontentment of the masses they wish to represent while ensuring this expression continues. As they continue to use symbols and rhetoric that are meaningful to the public, they each in turn become a symbol of hope themselves.