1983

Ai Weiwei’s Hanging man is an objet trouvé representing a tribute to Duchamp, involving the transformation of a coat-hanger into the French artist’s profile, but at the same time it also refers to the fact that New York launderettes are run primarily by Chinese, while the sunflower seeds filling a part of the profile allude to the plant’s seeds which play a crucial role in the Chinese diet.

New York Photographs, 1983-1993. Duchamp’s profile, Sunflower Seeds. 1983 © Ai Weiwei