Ai WeiWei makes me want to rebel

(Source: Study of Perspective - Hong Kong, Ai WeiWei)

A few weeks ago, I watched the documentary, Ai WeiWei: Never Sorry.  It left me wanting to rebel against something -- something meaningful.  
I'm not sure what (I know, I sound like a moody teenager), but it made me appreciate people brave enough to take a stand.

Ai WeiWei's work on the Sichuan earthquake victims is particularly brave.  

The 2008 disaster reached an 8 on the Richter scale and left 69,000 people dead in its aftermath.  The public initially praised the Chinese government for effectively handling the disaster, but opinion changed after realizing 7,000 schoolrooms collapsed due to faulty government construction.  The deaths were largely only children due to the one-child policy, leaving parents especially heartbroken.

Rather than complaining on the periphery, Ai WeiWei did something.  He collected the names of the school children and posted them on his public blog.  Unfortunately, the government shut him down after collecting 5,385 names.

Ai WeiWei still displayed the list in his office and created the public art work below.