Ai Weiwei’s “Roots” exhibition showcases a new series of monumental sculptural works created from giant tree roots sourced in Brazil. The artist worked with local artisans and communities to find roots and trunks from the endangered Pequi Vinagreiro tree typically found in the Bahian rainforest. Cast from these rare roots, some of which are over a thousand years old, the sculptures create striking compositions and forms that reflect their Brazilian heritage. The exhibition’s sense of surreal displacement and alien disjointedness communicates themes of uprootedness and displacement, not only as it mirrors Ai Weiwei’s own exiled artist status, but also that of the plight of refugees he has documented and the indigenous populations living in Brazilian forests. The Roots series employs traditional, bygone methods of ‘lost wax’ moulding and then depositions via iron casting, reflecting the industrialisation and relentless modernisation that has supplanted much of ancient human practices. The exhibition also includes floating figures, clouds and dream-like vignettes, created with delicate sculptures crafted from stretched silk over bamboo armatures, produced by a Chinese kite-making collective. Finally, the exhibition features Lego brick-based works, politically charged and featuring pixelated renderings of a refugee boat refused docking after two weeks at sea, the Mueller report, and the symbol of contentious protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Posted by hateruma_yaeyama on 2019-10-02 10:39:18