Ai Weiwei Cheryl HainesJasmine Heiss - Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly: Art, Human Rights, and the Power of Writing a Letter (Art Books, Ai Weiwei Art, Social Activism, Human Rights, Contemporary Art Books)

Alcatraz Island seen from the San Francisco Bay

Main cellhouse, Alcatraz Island

Ai Weiwei, Yours Truly, 2014 (detail); interactive installation: custom-designed postcards, racks, tables, chairs; part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, Trace, 2014; installation: LEGO plastic bricks; part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, Refraction, 2014 (detail); installation: Tibetan solar panels, steel; part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, With Wind, 2014 (detail); installation: handmade kites (paper, silk and bamboo); part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, Stay Tuned, 2014 (detail); sound installation: custom-made furniture, audio files, speakers; part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, Illumination, 2014 (detail); sound installation: audio files, speakers; part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Ai Weiwei, Blossom, 2014 (detail); installation: porcelain, hospital fixtures (sinks, toilets, bathtubs); part of @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, Alcatraz Island, 20142015

Copyright 2018 by the FOR-SITE Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 9781452159300 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Spalding, David, editor.
Title: Ai Weiwei: Yours truly: art, human rights, and the power of writing a letter / edited by David Spalding; with essays by Ai Weiwei, Cheryl Haines, Jasmine Heiss, and David Spalding.
Other titles: Ai Weiwei (Chronicle Books (Firm))
Description: San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017046633 | ISBN 9781452159294 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Ai, Weiwei. Yours truly. | Political prisoners in art. | Letter writing in art.
Classification: LCC N7349.A5 A79 2018 | DDC 700/.45--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046633

Designed by Alice Chau
Typesetting by Kevin Wong

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David Spalding Director of Publications, FOR-SITE Foundation

To be free is not merely to cast off ones chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, its the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

We can all be agents of change. But sometimes the challenges that surround us make it hard to know where to begin. This book aims to inspire readers to take action in the struggle for human rights, both at home and abroad. It starts with a simple and direct expression of empathy: the sending of a postcard.

The story of Yours Truly began with the remarkable exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, organized in 2014 by San Franciscos FOR-SITE Foundation in collaboration with the National Parks Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Following his own detention and the loss of his passport at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the outspoken artist and activist Ai Weiwei transformed the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz into an artistic platform. The resulting exhibition engaged the public in a very personal conversation about the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world.

Trace was one of the eight new artworks that comprised the @Large exhibition. Made from over 1.2 million LEGO bricks exactingly assembled to spread across the floor of an old prison building, the work depicts the faces and names of 176 brave individuals who have been incarcerated or exiled due to their beliefs, affiliations, and nonviolent expressions of dissent. As the father of a young son, Ai Weiwei understood the gravitational pull that LEGOs could have on children and their families. He hoped to attract the broadest possible audience using his chosen medium, including those who might not otherwise take note of these prisoners and their stories. Nearby binders, containing brief synopses of each prisoners case, were readily available to visitors who wanted to learn moreand many did, poring over the pages, wondering what they might do to help.

The works companion piece, Yours Truly, answered this question. Located at the exhibitions terminus, Yours Truly repurposed the prisons former dining hall into a space of contemplation and communication. There, visitors were invited to compose messages to many of the prisoners seen in Trace, using pre-addressed postcards emblazoned with the national birds and flowers of the countries where they were being detained.

Before the exhibition opened, no one was sure how the public, already weary from the ferry ride to Alcatraz and the lengthy tour of the prison, might respond. But from the outset, the room with the postcards was a hive of activity. The seating areas, designed by the artist to resemble picnic tables, quickly filled with people absorbing and discussing the gravity of the prisoners situations, carefully choosing cards, and quietly crafting messages of hope, compassion, and concern. Art guides, trained to help visitors navigate and respond to this complex material, reported having striking conversations with people for whom the exhibition had proved enlightening. Soon, the completed postcards began piling up faster than anyone had anticipated, until there were well over ninety thousand. Each one is an affecting testament to our greatest shared capacityan awakened sense of empathy.