Say Their Names, Remember

A name is the first and final marker of individual rights, one fixed part of the ever changing human world. A name is the most basic characteristic of our human rights:no matter how poor or how rich, all living people have a name and it is endowed with good wishes, the expectant blessings of kindness and virtue - Ai Weiwei

I saw the very powerful Ai Weiwei According To What exhibit at the AGO and what affected me most were the artist's expressions of his reaction to the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake that killed 90,000 including 5,196 children.  Ai launched a social media campaign to begin a citizen’s investigation into the disaster and to create a full list of the names of the missing / dead.“Remembrance” is an audio recording of people from around the world reading the names of the dead children.

Image: Marilyn Bellamy

“Names of the Student Earthquake Victims Found by the Citizen Investigation” seen above, is a document turned into an installation of the compiled list of all the names of the children. The list is also posted on a wall in Ai's studio.

Image: Marilyn Bellamy

Due to shoddy construction rebar snapped during the quake causing the school's walls to collapse concrete onto the children. Ai and his crew went onsite to the wreckage of the schools and collected the rebar. His work seen here, “Straight”, is the result.