《一虎八奶圖》(« The portrait of one tiger and eight boobs ») by Ai Weiwei
This photograph is designed by Ai Weiwei. This piece of artwork is to satirize the central government ignoring the poor lives of the farmers and corrupting capitalists. It has stirred up controversy since it was published. It is not because of the nude people but the hidden message in the photo. The four women in the photographs are just Ai Weiwei’s cyber friends. They take these photographs because they want to support Ai Weiwei.
Ai Weiwei (born 18 May 1957) is not only a Chinese contemporary artist but also a political activist. He usually uses some innovative and bold ways to express his discontent about the Chinese government. He pays lots of attention to the democracy and human rights in China. Ai Weiwei has taken some series of photographs which are ironic to the government and 《一虎八奶圖》is one of the series. Because of his talent, he got many awards and nominations from all around the world.
People who do not know Ai Weiwei must see it as an pornographic picture. However, it has lots of meaning inside the photo. Every single tiny gesture in this photo has its political reason for doing so. You can know what Ai Weiwei want to express from the positions of them as well.
First of all,Ai Weiwei is sitting in the middle of the photo covering the middle part of the body by hands. In Chinese, we call this ‘擋中央’which has the same pronunciation as ’黨中央’ which represents central government. In addition, his hands are holding on the left knee which represent a firm left-leaning attitude.
Secondly, the woman with long hair and glassed on the left hand side sitting on the chair without the back implies intellectuals in Chinese society. Although they have high social status and prestige, they are not reliable. Also, the woman is fiddling with her hair and sits sideways to the middle man ( CENTRAL GOVERNMENT). This indicates that no matter how the intellectuals show off, they are still controlled by the central government.
Thirdly, the fat woman on the right hand side, wearing a jade pendant and watch represents the capitalist class. She has high social status and she is reliable. Her hands and body are leaning to the right which implies that the capitalists are right-wingers, members of a right wing political party. In the first two photographs, the central government (Ai Weiwei) and the capitalist class (the woman on the right hand side) seem not close to each other. However, in the third photograph, there are only those two parties. This implies that these two parties are not close to each other in public but in fact corruptions are in progress behind the scene.
Fourthly, at first, the woman with short hair only stand in the gap between the woman on the left (the intellectuals) and the man (the central government) but then she can sit next to the man. It indicates the media starts being controlled by the government.
Lastly, there is a girl always standing the man, hiding most of her body. She represents the farmers who do not have social status and always being ignored.
I think it is very good to merge both political issue and art together. It can make political issue more interesting and it can attract people to know more what is happening in society and the art world. Artwork can act as a story-teller. It can tell you many things once you pay attention to every detail of the work. Take 《一虎八奶圖》as an example, it tells you what is happening in the Chinese society.
