THE ART OF FREEDOM NOW
While art is, intrinsically, about the freedom of expression, today we are sharing works of two very different artists who specifically focus on the subject of freedom itself. One, Elizabeth Gadd, is a young emerging photographer who experiences freedom in the wildest of places. The other, Ai Weiwei, must create his works while in captivity.
WANDERLUST LANDSCAPES -- ELIZABETH GADD
Elizabeth Gadd loves to roam free. She documents her wilderness wanderlust and her personal journeys with incredibly beautiful selfies and portraits of her traveling companions.
At only 21 years old, Gadd is a self-taught photographer who is interested in exploring wild landscapes and living out unfettered dreams.
A self-described introvert, Gadd explains that these self-portraits are representative of her journey towards freedom from fear. She began in 2010 by taking one portrait every day of the year.
"The Icelandic Red Dress Series," Gadd’s most recent, is her boldest attempt to illustrate the spirit of freedom. In these self-portraits, Gadd stands strong, a small figure in a red dress, against a majestic mammoth mass of nature’s grandeur.
Beyond the Icelandic series, most of Gadd’s photos were taken within an hour’s distance of her home in Vancouver, BC. The gorgeous mountains, forests, and fields in each place provide unbeatable backdrops.
Gadd has always been a free spirit -- even before she started to capture the essence in her photographs.
Beyond her travels and art, she relishes her freedom to eat as much chocolate as she pleases -- which, in case you were wondering, is a lot.
For more of Elizabeth Gadd’s incredible photography, look here.
AI WEIWEI
Freedom is the key component of the art created by Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei.
He has publicly criticized the Chinese government and its human rights violations. Likely as a result of these critiques, Ai Weiwei was detained in 2011 on charges of tax evasion. His passport has been confiscated by the government and he has been under house arrest.
Weiwei’s recent installation, Trace, highlighted the cause for freedom with 176 LEGO portraits of international political prisoners -- freedom fighters, including Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Weiwei called them “heroes of our time.” Most were still incarcerated at the time these artworks were made.
Trace was a larger part of Weiwei’s @Large exhibition, held on the island of Alcatraz, the prison-turned-landmark off the coast of California. This was the first time a major artist was allowed to display their work on the island.
Volunteers assembled the pieces used in the portraits based on digital blueprints created by Weiwei. A whopping 1.2 million LEGO bricks were used. They remind us of the relationship of small parts to a whole, and of the individual to the collective.
One of Ai Weiwei’s ongoing projects takes a stand for freedom using beautiful flowers. His tweet: “Since Nov. 30, 2013, every morning I am putting a bouquet of flowers in the basket of a bicycle outside the front door of the No. 258 Caochangdi studio until I win back the right to travel.”
Check out our post Ai Weiwei with the Wind another part of the @Large installation, With Wind, which featured an enormous dragon-shaped kite, symbolizing the beauty freedom, made all the more emotional as it hung trapped inside the desolate prison walls.
On view now through March 3, 2019, see Ai Weiwei's remarkable Life Cycle exhibition at the Marciano Art Foundation, in Los Angeles. This three-part installation is a provocative response to the global refugee crisis. It combines two previous works -- Sunflower Seeds (2010), comprised of 50 tons of porcelain seeds, and Spouts (2015) made up of thousands of antique teapot spouts, together with the new Life Cycle collection of sculptures of mythical beasts in a giant inflatable raft.
A meditation on freedom and oppression, this is one of the most important art shows to see this winter.
Read more about Freedom all this week on BeautifulNow, including Set Yourself Free: Beautiful Road Trips, Freestyling Awesomeness: Lorenz Holder, Keeping Beauty Wild & Free, Dreams of Freedom & Peace, Tiny Windows Can Free Minds, and Growing Freedom. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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IMAGE CREDITS:
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Creatures of the Meadow.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Amity.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. The Leaf Thief.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. The Whirling Winds.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Unwavering - The Icelandic Red Dress Series.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Her Mystified Mind.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Mooring in the Mist.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Graceful Divergence - The Icelandic Red Dress Series.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Journey of Existence.
- Image: by Ai Weiwei. Trace.
- Image: by Ai Weiwei. Trace.
- Image: by Ai Weiwei. Trace.
- Image: by Ai Weiwei. Trace.
- Image by: Ai Weiwei. With Flowers.
- Image: by Ai Weiwei. Dragon-shaped kite from With Wind.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. The Misty Mountains Cold.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Enrapturing Existence.
- Image: by Elizabeth Gadd. Wanderer.
