1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

The “intimate and expansive” memoir of “one of the most important artists working in the world today”, telling a remarkable history of China over the last hundred years while also illuminating his artistic process. 

Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg and was inspired by Andy Warhol and the artworks of Marcel Duchamp. With candor and wit, he details his return to China and his rise from artistic unknown to art world superstar and international human rights activist—and how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime.