Free Ai Weiwei
I created this poster resembling Shepard Fairey’s OBEY GIANT campaign in order to help raise awareness for then-incarcerated artist and activist Ai Weiwei in 2011. His arrest spawned an outcry from not only other artists but the global community as a whole.
The text (爱未来) translates to “Love The Future,” which was adopted in solidarity, as well as to evade firewalls and censorship by the Chinese government, in support of Ai because it is very similar to the Mandarin sound and spelling of his name (艾未未).
Barred from leaving the country for over four years forced Ai to curate his shows and exhibitions remotely, but in 2015, the Chinese government reissued Ai’s passport, which allowed him to then apply for a visa to travel internationally.
Mr. Fairey, when interviewed about the piece in 2011 by Robin Cembalest, editor of the nonprofit youth-art blog Niborama, said,
“I think the poster is great. I wholly endorse the message and I’m proud that an homage to my work is the form it has taken. I have been following the Ai Weiwei situation sympathetically and I am a strong advocate of social justice in my own work, so I like and support the poster Andrew made.”
Source: Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist and Provocateur, Is Given Back His Passport