Ai Weiwei's Photographs

2008
Sichuan Earthquake Images
After a massive earthquake wrought havoc on Sichuan province on May 12, 2008, Ai Weiwei traveled to the region to document the destruction. More than 69,000 people were killed in the quake, including many children who were buried when their schools collapsed because of lax construction code enforcement. Ai Weiwei was severely beaten by police for trying to get the government to release an official list of those killed in the disaster. He was finally able to obtain 5,385 names of students killed and published them on his blog for the first anniversary of the earthquake.

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