Human rights activist and Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei has teamed up with Amnesty International to send a message of hope at Glastonbury Festival
Festival goers at Glastonbury will be invited to write postcards of hope to 10 political prisoners of conscience around the world. This postcard activation of hope is taking place across Saturday and Sunday in the Shangri La field at Glastonbury as part of an exclusive screening of the documentary Ai WeiWei Truly Yours.
Directed by Cheryl Haines, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly tells the story of Ai Weiwei’s father receiving an anonymous postcard while exiled as a dissident poet in the 1950s, and how this one small act of humanity had a profoundly moving and transformational impact on both father and son.
The documentary goes on to tell the stories of several former prisoners of conscience who stood up for their beliefs and, by doing so, inspired others to advocate for social change.
These resilient and relatable individuals include John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer who was imprisoned for exposing the use of torture by U.S. intelligence officers; Ahmed Maher, an activist and co-founder of Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement, which ultimately overthrew the government; and the family of Ebrahim Sharif Al Sayed, the former Secretary General of the Bahraini democratic reformist party.
In partnership with Amnesty International, festival goers watching the Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly documentary at Glastonbury will be given a blank postcard and invited by to write their own message of hope to prisoners of conscience around the world. At the end of the festival postcards will be sent by Amnesty International to prisoners in Bahrain, China, Iran, and Vietnam.
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking us to take the issue of global human rights to heart and act accordingly.
This postcard activation alongside an exclusive UK screening of Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly will take place in the Shangri-La Field at the Gas Tower at 4pm – 5.30pm on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June at Glastonbury Festival.
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly directed by Cheryl Haines tells the story of Ai Weiwei’s father receiving an anonymous postcard while exiled as a dissident poet in the 1950s, and how this one small act of humanity had a profoundly moving and transformational impact on both father and son. In the film, Ai Weiwei reveals candid details about his childhood, while his mother and brother recall years of privation on the edge of the Gobi Desert during her first ever on-camera interview about Ai Weiwei’s childhood.
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