Cheryl Haines
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, 2019
Documentary, FOR-SITE Foundation film
1 hour 16 minutes
After much anticipation, the award-winning documentary film Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is now available for audiences to view at home. In partnership with First Run Features, over thirty local theaters in the United States and Canada will be streaming the documentary in its virtual theatrical release. Inspired by the eponymous installation that was part of the FOR-SITE Foundation 2014-15 exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, the Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly documentary aims to motivate viewers to take action in the struggle for human rights at home and abroad. The Van Every|Smith Galleries will provide a free link, as a thank you, for donors to Friends of the Arts and all students, faculty, and staff at Davidson College. If you are interested in viewing the documentary, please email us at info@davidsongalleries.org for the link, which will only be active for 48 hours from July 31 to August 1. The message of this film is increasingly important for our times, as prisoners of conscience unjustly detained across the globe now face greater threats to their safety with the onset of COVID-19.
Ai’s art is rooted in social activism. His work encompasses diverse fields including fine arts, curating, architecture, and social criticism. Born in Beijing, China in 1957, he moved to Xinjiang with his family when his father, Ai Qing, was sent into exile between 1960 and 1976. Later the artist moved abroad to the United States in 1981 and lived there until 1993. He currently resides and works in Beijing. He continues to produce work that investigates government corruption and actively critiques the Chinese government’s stance on human rights.
In our 2014 exhibition, State of Emergency, the artist showcased his installation, Namelist (2014), and audio recording, Remembrance (2010), which are dedicated to the young people who lost their lives in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Together, the works honor the 5,196 innocent victims who died as a result of collapsed schools. The names of all 5,196 students are presented in State of Emergency, along with gender, age, and birthdate. The wall of names, much like Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., or the National September 11th Memorial & Museum in New York City, is overwhelming. Standing in front of the long rows and column of information, spanning the gallery wall, illuminates the magnitude of the disaster.
This is further emphasized by the audio recording, 3 hours and 41 minutes long, in which 3,444 individuals contributed voice recordings of the victim’s names, as requested by Ai through a Twitter campaign. This work is as much a memorial as it is a political statement against government cover-ups regarding sub-standard architecture. If you are interested in learning more about this exhibition, consider purchasing the full catalogue.