Tate Modern. Mon 21st March, 1.45pm

Fast walk to Tate Modern today in blazing sunshine and some real actual spring heat in the air, playing Velvet Underground on my headphones.


Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds at the Tate.

For the record, 100 million tiny sculptures of sunflower seeds, made out of porcelain and hand-painted by skilled artisans in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen.

I liked how Weiwei says the seeds represent the famine under Mao, and also the propaganda used during that era where Mao’s face would be the sun, and sunflower seeds would represent the people, turning toward him for sustenance. But also that during the Cultural Revolution sunflower seeds were a popular snack that people would eat and share, symbolising a common humanity that abides.


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