April 25 2018 (moc.media)

The book comprises the artist’s statements on the humanitarian crisis that can help people better understand and address the problem.

Source: Ai Weiwei Studio

Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei in collaboration with Larry Warsh released the book titled Humanity. The book was published by Princeton University Press, the New York Times reports. It is a collection of thoughts and aphorisms the artist said in his interviews.

For example, “The tragedy is not only that people have lost their lives. The tragedy is the people who, in the very rich nations, have lost their humanity,” Ai Weiwei told the BBC in 2016.

Source: Patricia Wall/The New York Times

Larry Warsh, a longtime collector and fan of Ai Weiwei’s art, thinks it is important to gather the artist’s most powerful statements under one cover. He describes Humanity as a continuation of the 2012 book Weiwei-isms – a collection of the artist’s thoughts on human rights and freedom of expression, also edited by Warsh.

“It’s [the book] is a real snapshot of something that most people have a hard time grasping. It’s about putting it together in a way we all can see the significance of these issues,” the editor says.

Ai Weiwei has long been using media and his fame to promote humanistic ideas. Chinese authorities detained him for three months for his popularity on Twitter and severe critisism of the government. His passport was seized in 2011. His Instagram posts, as well as his documentary Human Flow, have increased international attention to the refugee crisis.