Artist Ai Weiwei’s autumn exhibition, entitled ‘Roots’, features a series of iron sculptures, cast from giant tree roots sourced in Brazil. Ai worked with local artisans and communities across Brazil, visiting Trancoso in the east to locate roots and trunks from the endangered Pequi Vinagreiro tree, typically found in the Bahian rainforest. Elements of these rare tree roots were painstakingly moulded, conjoined and then cast to create striking compositions and bold forms that reflect their Brazilian heritage. While some resemble great jungle beasts or fantastical creatures, others comprise shattered, exploded root forms radiating outwards from a central nexus. The material employed in making the Roots series, cast iron covered in a patina of orange rust, likewise responds to ancient cultures and man’s first tools for tree felling and woodworking, rather than to the more recent art history of bronze or steel sculpture. These methods represent a traditional way of life that has been usurped and upended by industrialisation and modernisation, illustrating how progress can come at the expense of cultural and societal well-being. Alongside the sculptures, Ai presents floating figures, clouds and dream-like vignettes, as well as politically-charged pixelated renderings of a refugee boat, the Mueller report and the Tiananmen Square protests. The exhibition reflects the artist’s experiences of ‘uprootedness’, mirroring his peripatetic existence, as well as the plight of the refugees he has spent the last few years documenting, and the indigenous populations that rely on the trees and forests of Brazil for their habitats and sustenance.
Posted by hateruma_yaeyama on 2019-10-02 10:41:29