Ai Weiwei has long taken interest in salvaged and readymade objects from China and is deeply indebted to the rich cultural heritage of the country of his birth. Symbolizing iconoclasm yet also acting as an accolade, the 3,020 broken porcelain vessels that comprise Tiger, Tiger, Tiger (2015) speak of a multitude of creators who once touched them. Gathered by Ai Weiwei over the course of two decades, each fragment depicts a hand-painted tiger that adorned the inside base of a precious bowl. The porcelain originates from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and each tiger reveals the hand of a now-forgotten artist. Placed next to one another on a simple white platform, the shards become a visually unified sea of history. The tiger is also a zodiac sign and symbol of courage in China, and in Ai Weiwei’s work it becomes a metaphor for both the endurance of cultural memory, and, in this fractured state, its fragility. Via strategies to which Ai Weiwei has returned throughout his career, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger encapsulates the dichotomies of the human condition, which remain at the heart of his engaged practice.
