October 1, 2014

Chinese artists creates images of freedom fighters using 1.2 million LEGO bricks

by Gavril Mankoo

Being socially imprisoned for your race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views isn’t something a lot of us are put through regularly. However, the ones who have faced atrocities like these deserve to be celebrate, for holding on to their beliefs and living by them. Ai Weiwei, an unlawfully detained ‘prisoner of conscience’ isn’t allowed to leave his home country of China and has recently brought his protest to light with his ‘Trace’ art installation. This one compromises of 176 LEGO portraits crafted after political prisoners and exiles from around the globe. The portraits are highly detailed and are extremely thought-provoking too. To bring these to life, Weiwei used a jaw-dropping 1.2 million LEGO bricks.

The LEGO pictures portray freedom fighters including Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Weiwei created digital blueprints of his artworks and sent them to an 80 member team in San Francisco who assembled the portraits in individual parts. The parts when then put together to reveal the final images of these historic figures. Speaking to the New York Times, Weiwei said, “They are very simple and straightforward, but can also be easily destroyed and taken apart, ready to be remade and reimagined. I like the idea of using this language and material as an expression of human nature and the hand of creation.”