Two months after Ai Weiwei got his passport back—after infamously being barred from leaving his home country four years ago—the irreverent Chinese artist has racked up a serious collection of selfies with art giants, famous dissidents, and cultural figures. The jewel of his collection may have come this week in the form a middle finger-filled snapshot with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, recreating Weiwei’s seminal Study of Perspective.
The pic was allegedly taken inside London’s Ecuadorian embassy, and The Guardian speculates that it’s a big “fuck you” to their various critics. Weiwei also crossed middle fingers with the likes of Jacob Appelbaum and Anish Kapoor, the latter of whom he expressed his support for refugees around the world with (and shared a taco). Further, he’s been insta-chilling with Damien Hirst, Alan Yentob, Nancy Walker, and more, celebrating the freedom to travel with the kind of gusto you’d expect from a Nobel Peace Prize-winning, punk-as-fuck dissident artist who’s been trapped in the system for nearly half a decade. Ai Weiwei’s Instagram game is on point.
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“Two artists. Three fingers. News: Weiwei and I join hands to walk. We will walk out of London. We will each carry a single blanket. A symbol of the need that faces 60 million refugees in our world today. We welcome those who wish to walk with us. Bring your blanket. We will repeat this action in cities worldwide over the coming months. At 10am on Thursday 17th September we will walk from The Royal Academy of Arts we will walk east out of London. Route details will be announced.”
See more selfies on Ai Weiwei’s Instagram account.
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