Ai WeiWei, Study of Perspective - San Marco, 1995-2003
As one of many people thinking about the disappearance of Ai WeiWei lately and threatening to boycott anything Chinese (see below), it's due time to post these images of photographers interjecting their presence in front of the viewfinder.
In Study of Perspective, WeiWei traveled to national monuments – from the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, to the White House in Washington, D.C., to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. He then shoots his own arm extended in front of the camera lens as he gives each site the finger. It's not about measurement and scale as so many artists have explored in the past (Ken Josephson below) but of a critique of politics, nationalism, and culture.
Ken Josephson, Wyoming, 1971
Nick Waplington, From Other Edens, 1994
Nick Waplington, Detail from Other Edens, 1994
Lee Friedlander, 1997
It's also curious to note that the photographers above are intrinsically tied to travel - occupying/exploring/claiming the landscape behind them.
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