With Wind, in the New Industries Building

My streak of amazing art experiences continued today with the series of Ai WeiWei installations at the National Park at Alcatraz. I didn't know that Hopi prisoners were the first political prisoners at Alcatraz, because of their refusal to send their children to boarding schools. I loved the installation about voice and the way that Ai WeiWei forces us into the cells to experience the variety of political expression he has collected. When I turned over one of the postcards in the Yours Truly installation and realized that the postcard was already addressed and just awaited my message to a living political prisoner, there was nothing else to do but to sit down and write. And how about the exquisite kites seen above in photographs I took through broken glass on the gun walk? Ai WeiWei may not be allowed to leave China but his art reminds folks all around the world about the importance of freedom of expression.