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What did Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds installation symbolize?

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Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei in 2019, facing the camera and wearing a black zip-up jacket. — Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei, 2019.

Ai Weiwei’s 2010 installation, Sunflower Seeds, featured 100 million hand-painted porcelain seeds created by approximately 1,600 Chinese artisans. The artist intended these fragile, individual sculptures to serve as a metaphor for the downtrodden Chinese populace.1

Initially, Ai encouraged visitors to walk upon the installation, emphasizing the collective nature of the work, before it was eventually roped off due to concerns regarding potential health hazards from the porcelain dust.1