Lost in my mind
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises left to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep."
Mattie. 18. Omaha. Lesbian. Thinker.
Just trying to find my way.
This was the entrance to Ai Weiwei’s 2009 exhibit in Munich. The message, “She lived in this world happily for seven years”, was a quote a grieving mother of a Sichuan earthquake victim told him. His medium, different colored backpacks, was inspired by the dirty, abandoned backpacks that were scattered in the rubble in the earthquake’s aftermath. As Beijing artist, Chen Daqing, said “He can take his own response and naturally turn it into art.” When I first saw this, I almost cried.
Weiwei spent three years going from town to town collecting the names of the schoolchildren who were killed during the Sichuan earthquake due to their poorly built government schools. These precious names were being kept secret from the public by the Chinese government.
Hirshorn
Many criticize Weiwei for painting these priceless neolithic vases(5000-3500 BC). However, he makes a very bold statement by doing so to show that destruction is happening everyday and going completely unnoticed.
I think the greatest thing would be for someone to lie down and cuddle with me and have an intelligent conversation about our daily thoughts and random ideas, our vivid dreams and our adventurous travels, what art we fancy and what books we enjoy, all the while filling our ears with good tunes and our bodies with good vibes.
I have three art history books in my lap. Conquering one at the moment while listening to Rick Steve’s audio tours on Rome and Paris. <3
This piece was created by Scottish designer Kyla McCallum in Cologne, 2007. The skirt holds 67 books with a total of 20,000 pages, each one folded by hand. Photography by Natascha Aplas.
To see some more of Kyla’s work go to…
