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Ai Weiwei 艾未未

Kui Hua Zi (Sun Flower Seeds)
Now On View

Maker

Ai Weiwei 艾未未 (Chinese, b. 1957 in Beijing)

Title

Kui Hua Zi (Sun Flower Seeds)

Year

2009

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Supports

Geography

Place Made: Jingdezhen; Place Made: China

Dimensions

16.2 x 12.7 x 11.1 cm (6 3/8 x 5 x 4 3/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

"Kui Hua Zi, Ai Weiwei" inscribed on jar lid

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Elizabeth T. and Dorothy N. Casey Fund

Object Number

2010.20

Type

Exhibition History

Art and Design from 1900 to Now
Jun 04, 2022 – Dec 01, 2030

Label copy

Seemingly identical but actually individually sculpted and handpainted, these porcelain sunflower seeds are symbols of the common people. Ai Weiwei, an artist known for his acts of rebellion and resistance, paid hundreds of small-workshop artisans in the city of Jingdezhen, China, to produce thousands of ceramic seeds. For centuries, factories in Jingdezhen have been an important industrial center for porcelain production, serving the imperial family and supplying foreign markets. Opposing notions of mass production and industrialization, the sunflower seeds represent the individual creativity and collective strength of the people.

–Wai Yee Chiong, curator of Asian art

Everyday Things
Contemporary Works from the Collection
Apr 13, 2012 – Feb 24, 2013

Label copy

Ai Weiwei paid skilled craftspeople in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, where porcelain was invented 1,200 years ago, to sculpt and paint each of these life-size sunflower seeds by hand. The seeds relate to Ai’s memories of growing up in communist China under Mao Zedong, when Chairman Mao was represented as the sun and the Chinese people as his loyal sunflower followers. Although widespread consumption of sunflower seeds in China was associated with limited personal choice, people ate them with pleasure (and continue to today). Contained in a modern household jar, the porcelain seeds become a symbol of both the common and the extraordinary. Larger artworks by Ai feature enormous quantities of porcelain seeds, including 100,000,000 created for an installation last year at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Outspokenly critical of the current Chinese government’s policies, Ai was arrested in April 2011 and his studio was raided by Chinese authorities. He was released after three months following an international outcry.

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Tombstone

Ai Weiwei 艾未未 (Chinese, b. 1957 in Beijing)
Kui Hua Zi (Sun Flower Seeds), 2009
1000 porcelain sunflower seeds, sculpted and painted by hand; lidded glass jar
16.2 x 12.7 x 11.1 cm (6 3/8 x 5 x 4 3/8 inches)
Elizabeth T. and Dorothy N. Casey Fund 2010.20

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