250. Kui Hua Zi (Sunflower seeds). Ai weiwei. 2010-2011 CE Sculpted and painted porcelain.

• Form
  • Installation containing millions of individually handcrafted ceramic pieces resembling sunflower seeds
  • They symbolically represent an ocean of fathomless depth; each seed is made in Jingdezhen, a city known for its porcelain production in Imperial China
  • The individual seed is lost among a sea of seeds, representing the loss of individuality in the modern world
  • Six hundred artisans worked for two years each seed is handpainted.
• Content
  • Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist
  • Sunflower seeds were eaten as a source of food during the famine era under Mao Tze-tung
  • The work reflects the ideology of Chairman Mao: he was the sun; his followers were the seeds
  • Originally a viewer could walk on the installation, but it raised harmful ceramic dust; viewing was then limited to the sidelines