Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds), Ai Wei Wei
Ai Weiwei, Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower Seeds), 2010, one hundred million hand painted porcelain seeds, Tate Modern, London
In Jingdezhen, a town 1000km south of Beijing, Ai Weiwei began the first efforts of what would become a six year project he would eventually be arrested for. 1,600 workers, including Weiwei, meticulously handcrafted 100,000,000 porcelain sunflower seeds in an attempt to assemble in interactive artwork of unfathomable magnitude.
Deeply embedded in the city’s history, Jingdezhen served as the center of porcelain production for the emperor’s court beginning as early as the 6th century. However, since the communist revolution and the rise of Mao Zedong, demand for the town’s porcelain has dropped significantly, leaving many out of work and bankrupt. Recognizing this, Weiwei centered his production in the town where Chinese porcelain flourished for centuries, providing its residents with a means of income.
The actual production of the porcelain needed to supply Weiwei’s project reflected that of the original methods practiced for centuries during the Chinese dynasties. Groups of people worked together in different functions, such as molding, purifying, and painting to maximize efficiency and quality. According to old tradition, workers not only worked at production shops, but also brought the seeds home to satisfy their work obligations, as well as to satisfy their roles as parents and spouses.
As much as Weiwei’s project aimed to revitalize a town, his work took on an even broader political commentary commenting on the Maoist regime. In the political arena, many paintings included sunflower seeds surrounding Mao Zedong, an image meant to depict Mao as the sun and the seeds as the people of China loyal to the sunflowers. Thus, the sunflower spiritually and materially supported the revolution in China.
Understanding the significance of the sunflower seed in modern Chinese history, Weiwei used porcelain sunflower seeds to criticize Mao’s political and economic injustice. According to Weiwei, sunflower seeds hold a special memory for him as even the poorest children in China would share sunflower seeds together – a symbol of camaraderie in difficult times.
These hyper-realistic seeds create a sense of vastness when together, yet also create a sense of precision in the arrangement of the seeds, creating a visual order. The individual seed is lost among the millions, critiquing the sense of conformity established by Mao in modern China. Furthermore, the use of porcelain is used as a symbol of imperial culture in China, serving as a commentary on the long history of the material in China while also rejecting the common phrase ‘Made in China.’ The highly skilled artisans created almost indistinguishable seeds, referencing the importance of porcelain tradition in Jingdezhen and the diffusion of cheap, modern labor responsible for China’s position in the world economy today.
Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds forces the viewer to question how their consumption of foreign goods affects the lives of others. By creating a piece that viewers can physically interact with, he bridges the gap between the producer and the consumer, humanizing the workers who spent countless hours working on the seeds. Weiwei’s critiques of the Chinese government led to his arrest that lasted 81 days during the exhibition, further emphasizing the oppressive state Mao created. In his eyes, Weiwei claims his true crime was activism for democracy and human rights.
