Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei is known as much for his activism as he is for his art, using his varied practice to advocate for democracy, freedom of expression and social justice. Born in Beijing in 1957, his father was deemed an enemy of the communist government and he grew up in exile in the remote northwest of China. A sculptor, painter, filmmaker, photographer and poet, his work is held in numerous international museums. He was the subject of a major retrospective at the Royal Academy in 2015. In the same year his sculpture series "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" sold for £3.4 million at Phillips in London.