"Snake Ceiling" by Ai Weiwei in the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. (2012)
This work, which resembles a giant snake, is formed from commonly used student backpacks in various sizes (representing children from elementary school through junior high) laid out as a requiem for the school children and thousands of other people who perished in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Ai Weiwei is a contemporary Chinese artist and activist known for his work addressing human rights and freedom of speech. He currently lives and works in Portugal.
The snake in Chinese culture is a paradoxical figure—both revered and feared, embodying transformation, wisdom, and mystery. By constructing the snake from student backpacks, Ai Weiwei fuses cultural symbolism with raw political commentary. The backpacks are literal remnants of lives lost, and the snake becomes a vessel of collective memory—slithering through the gallery space like a ghost of accountability. The snake is not just mourning, it’s watching. It’s winding through the institutional space, refusing to be ignored.
"Snake Ceiling" by Ai Weiwei in the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. (2012)
This work, which resembles a giant snake, is formed from commonly used student backpacks in various sizes (representing children from elementary school through junior high) laid out as a requiem for the school children and thousands of other people who perished in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Ai Weiwei is a contemporary Chinese artist and activist known for his work addressing human rights and freedom of speech. He currently lives and works in Portugal.
The snake in Chinese culture is a paradoxical figure—both revered and feared, embodying transformation, wisdom, and mystery. By constructing the snake from student backpacks, Ai Weiwei fuses cultural symbolism with raw political commentary. The backpacks are literal remnants of lives lost, and the snake becomes a vessel of collective memory—slithering through the gallery space like a ghost of accountability. The snake is not just mourning, it’s watching. It’s winding through the institutional space, refusing to be ignored.