Can bloggers borrow from other bloggers? Artists do it all the time, right? There is nothing original in this, excepting sin if you ascribe to certain religious dogma, which I don't, so I don't feel like less of a human for borrowing from others. I will most certainly give it back. In fact, I am giving back right now as I write. For the nature of the new beast is to grow it up and out. Beyond the constrains of one sentence as Ai Weiwei had, to the lava flow of other words, thoughts and deeds. And by just the mention of the man, the promulgate his mission- spread his word. I help to germinate for the man imprisoned by his own country. I am agent-like in the quest for the world to know this most interesting and talented man. So there, I did it I got my start.
Not sure when or how he caught my eye, buzzes come from such bizarre places these days. But the connection was made none-the-less for I had been to China. I had been dwarfed by the numbers, shocked and awed by the size, and made fearful by the might. China the place that was in the process of obliterating a culture and a people (the Tibetan people living high up on that plateau in the North-eastern region of the Himalayas) in much the same way we have done to the Indigenous Peoples of places we conquer and control.
The complexities of place are overwhelming in general, but the nuanced stuff even stranger still. There I was disliking the Chinese for what they did to the Tibetans only to learn of the horrors visited upon the Chinese by the Japanese during times of imperialistic war crimes on their own land when I visited this far-off and once unvisitable land. Oh so then I wanted real bad to hate on those Japanese for such awfulness, and then I had to pause. Oh snap! Now wait a minute here, didn't we...didn't we...yeah we did something downright dirty to the Japanese both near and far. How could I ever forget? I taught the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, have probably made over 1,000 cranes myself, stood silent each Aug. in memory of the awfulness of what our country did and loathed men and the Manhattan Project. I learned and knew little of the interment of Japanese-Americans in our country because it wasn't in my history books or rolling off my teacher's tongues when I was growing up. It came as quite the shock when I learned that over 127,000 United States citizens were imprisoned during World War II. for the crime of being of Japanese ancestry.
So back around to Chinese and Japanese, and add one of the largest states by population and size and you get the gist of where I am going here, or more aptly- where I went.
I went on a quick jaunt out to California, specifically to San Francisco and the National Park, Alcatraz to go see a temporary and unusual exhibit put on by the following:
@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz is presented by the FOR-SITE Foundation in partnership with the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
For more information I direct you to the link: http://www.for-site.org/project/ai-weiwei-alcatraz/
So I am going to be disordered here and show you what we found.
but their presence increased as we went down by the Pier.
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This is Ai Weiwei!
So let's see if I was able to capture my favorite sounds:
It was hard to find and be in the space in the way I would have really wanted to be, which oddly enough was in a solitary way. I stole seconds of alone time, for that was all I could take.
The second instillation was a harder one for me to grasp. In the starkness of the decrepit cells were these porcelain flowers in everyday mundane containers. Symbolic? Of what? A head scratcher. Here you look:
    
Is it art if you don't know the backstory? What kind of art? I will readily admit that I did not find it appealing at all. What is he trying to say? I think, when given the choices, I think I liked the thought of this one:
The profusion of flowers rendered in a cool and brittle material could also be an ironic reference to China’s famous Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956, a brief period of government tolerance for free expression that was immediately followed by a severe crackdown against dissent.I find it hard to imagine living in a time of tolerance and free expression only to be followed by such a period of harsh and severe circumstances. The people who enjoyed and partook (i.e. who drank the love and peace koolaid) were then sent off to "re-education" places. It was hard learning about this when I was in China, it was hard thinking about this again for this exhibit. It is as if Ai Weiwei, who was allowed to study in the U.S. and got to hang in NYC (i.e. only got a mere few sips of the koolaid), is showing through his dissident status and militant stance against what the government tries to do to him that he refuses to be imprisoned. That this exhibit is in the hospital ward of the prison spoke to me. It all is a profusion of madness and sickness and none of it, nothing about the prison industrial complex- the players, the prisoners, the families is anything I can touch, taste, or know. I was thankful that I had vision, for at least I could see. Eyes and iphones allow me to scan and scan and scan again. Windows into worlds unknown. So what did I see next? Here it is:  Now you just sit and ponder this and think if it is so. I shudder at the thought. But what if...what if your government said all people who are_______are criminals and then imprisoned ________, guess what you/I/we would become. It's all about who controls our destinies and how far out on limbs we are willing to go. I have traversed some thin lines on shaky branches, but fortunately so far I am and hope to remain a free bird. Potential convict is not a moniker I want.  The Peace Crane on a Star of David- bam! I like it, I want it, but alas, it's not my choice to make. And in light of all that has gone on at our last year's controversial vacation destination (Conflict Kitchen in Pittsburgh, PA) death threats for providing a perspective on a food wrapper are a real and present danger in our country too. It all is a sad shame to me. I wonder what Ai Weiwei thinks of the whole Palestine/Israel scene. I think this kite tells me what I already know.   This kite reminded me a bit of the one someone in our tourist group in China tried to fly in the Forbidden City Park. The couple was from Washington State I think and they were by far the "Hippy People" in our mostly shy and conservative mostly engineering group of astronomy geeks. It was with glee that I watched him unfurl and get into a good wind his awesome and colorful kite. It was in horror and embarrassment that others in our group quickly moved away from him as armed guards came and shook a stern "no-no" finger at him and forced him to land his Forbidden Kite. China, the land of the Forbidden Kite will always stay in my mind.  The dragon just reminded me of the traditional ones I remember seeing as a kid. When China was such an enigma and the only thing I knew of it was the Panda's Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing that they gave Nixon when he visited in 1972. I wanted to go see them so bad, but when we went to drop my brother at Univ. of Maryland and dad and I then touristed around D.C. we did not go see those dang bears. By the time the kids and I did go to the Zoo (we actually went to see the Dalai Llama's Peace Prayer on the National Mall w/ a zoo side trip) in 1999, the remaining Panda (Hsing-Hsing) had been put to death d/t kidney failure. And did anyone out there ever know what we gave them in turn? Musk Oxen. Now what the heck are they? Another thing I just remembered was the rooms upon rooms of wickedly kitschy stuff that other countries gave to the imperial people and they now house in these museums in the Forbidden City where Bazillions of people cram into in horrid heat to espy. It was a polar opposite to what we viewed here on Alcatraz in these vast, cavernous spaces. Finally, I have to say that I heard the most about the Trace exhibit. Most likely b/c I have a Lego-lover little big boy husband (who still has his original thousands in a bucket somewhere up in the attic), and this exhibit was all about the legos. We spent more time than we probably should have at this and the Yours Truly exhibit (well really we were wow'ed by the whole place and after 4 hours had to call it a day), so we actually missed a few of the installations. One was below us in the gun gallery and together hubby and I said we were uninterested in weaponry while unbeknownst to us it actually housed an AW exhibit (refraction). We were a tad sad at these oversights once home, but had such an AMAZING day and were extremely grateful for what we got.    Trace 176 Individuals from 33 countries- Heroes of our times. The trace of them embedded in Legos the number of which it took to build I am uncertain and I don't really care. It was overwhelming to think of the AMAZING bravery these prisoners of conscience have/have had. I am awed, I am awed, I am awed. Feeling small, feeling small, feeling small. But it's okay, I love heroes and we really have had so many more than the 176 that could fit in here on 6 carpets of Legos. I thank you for reminding me Ai Weiwei   https://picasaweb.google.com/100895537524141489194/AWAlcatrazTrace#slideshow/6080233296144517042 And finally...we had our goodbyes to do:  |
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