Ai Weiwei Is Wrong to Ape Picture of Dead 3-Year-Old Aylan Kurdi

BAD COPY

The picture of the toddler’s body, lying dead in the surf of a Turkish beach, brutally crystallized the refugee crisis. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s copy is bizarre and poorly conceived.

Senior Editor and Writer

Published Feb. 1 2016 4:20PM EST

articles/2016/02/01/ai-weiwei-is-wrong-to-ape-picture-of-dead-3-year-old-aylan-kurdi/160201-teeman-aiweiwei_tease_yqjjsr — Santi Palacios/AP

Last September, the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old boy whose drowned body was washed up on a Turkish beach, became the most resonant image of the refugee crisis.

What does the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei hope to do by replicating the image of the 3-year-old’s demise on a Lesbos beach?

The...

Tim Teeman

Senior Editor and Writer

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Ai Weiwei Is Wrong to Ape Picture of Dead 3-Year-Old Aylan Kurdi

The picture of the toddler’s body, lying dead in the surf of a Turkish beach, brutally crystallized the refugee crisis. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s copy is bizarre and poorly conceived.

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Tim Teeman