Controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has recreated the famous photo
of the drowned infant Alan Kurdi, whose death in September 2015
symbolised the refugee plight to much of the world.
He chose a pebbled beach on the Greek island of Lesbos as the
backdrop to this image, which is one part of a series of projects
highlighting the refugee crisis.
This photograph was taken by Indian photographer Rohit Chawla for the
magazine India Today, and is meant to accompany an exhibition at the
India Art Fair. Ai and his team helped plan and stage the image, as at
the time of shoot he was working in a studio on the Greek island.
While this almost Kafka-esque homage to the original might seem to
mean well, I can't help but feel the image is a bit contrived.
Stylistically and aesthetically speaking, the tribute seems more
surrealist than anything else. It doesn't bring as much attention to the
refugee plight as it does to the artist himself, which shouldn't be the
point.
In fact, it reminds me of a work he did in Hong Kong last year, which
was naturally more of a commentary on the Chinese government.
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