Art and materiality in the global refugee crisis: Ai Weiwei’s artworks and the emerging aesthetics of mobilities

ABSTRACT

Prominent artists and activists have documented, collected and appropriated discarded materials of refugee journeys, such as life jackets, rafts and clothing, transforming them into largescale artworks. Material belongings play an important role in migration experiences. However, materials are often used as representational measures of rights to movement, mode of travel and refugee status. This article explores how the mobilisation and transformation of materials into artworks raises questions on the material agencies operating within global representations of refugee mobilities. Discussing recent artworks of Ai Weiwei, I explore the emerging material aesthetics that open alternative dialogues on migration flows and mobilities futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Materiality
• art
• migration
• refugee
• aesthetics
• mobilities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.