Framedlight

A chance exhibition by Ai Weiwei the dissident Chinese artist lead to us being able to visit the sad hospital wing of Alcatraz, which I understand is not normally open to the public. Ai Weiwei had a blog which criticised the Chinese government for trying to cover up the cause of the collapse of school buildings during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 when nearly 5,500 students perished. Not only did the government suppress the reason for this tragedy, shoddy building methods, it would not disclose the names of the children who had died. Ai Weiwei investigated and published the names so that they would not be forgotten. The blog was closed down by the government and Ai Weiwei was placed under house arrest and in 2011 imprisoned for alleged tax offences. Ai Weiwei had spent the 1980's in the US while studying and working in New York, returning to China when his father became ill. He had participated in courses at the Parson's School of Design and the Art Student's League of N...