Ai Wei Wei is a Chinese artist who is known for his conceptual works. In this 'Sunflower Seeds' work, he filled the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with one hundred million porcelain sunflower seeds. Each and every one of these sunflower seeds were hand crafted and painted by specialists in China.
I think Ai Wei Wei is really clever for gathering 1600 specialists to craft and paint these sunflower seeds, because it shows a greater impact with one hundred million crafted seeds as opposed to one seed. By filling the Hall with so many seeds, Ai Wei Wei captures people's attention since the number of seeds are so great. When one seed can't catch anyone's attention, one hundred million can make a strong statement. People who are highly skilled in hand crafting and painting are often neglected because there are so many of them, and I think Ai did a very good job on focusing on that issue and acknowledging these artists. A sunflower seed is very small, therefore being able to hand craft and paint a product with such details take years of practice and skills.
By filling the hall with these sculpted seeds and having people walk all over them is also a clever concept. I think Ai Wei Wei is telling people that these amazing crafters/artists in China are often neglected and their works are being stepped on ruthlessly. Even if there are hundreds of people who are skilled and talented, it doesn't mean that they are normal amongst each other. I think every artist should be acknowledged for their skills, no matter how vast the industry is.
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