Ai Weiwei Creates Grrreat Rug to Boost Tiger Population

Ai Weiwei b. 1957, China Follow +

Conservation organisation WWF this week announced a collaboration with artists that aims to support wild tigers.

Some huge names are taking part in the Tomorrow’s Tigers 2022 project, including Francesco Clemente, Kiki Smith, Raqib Shaw, Anish Kapoor, and Ai Weiwei.

Ai’s one-of-a-kind square rug depicts the tiger in an ambiguous position. Hung on the wall, it might be mid-pounce, but laid on the floor with its belly exposed it could just as easily be playing.

In an interview with the FT, Ai said that rather than pouncing, ‘it’s more like hugging.’

‘For many years I have been actively researching and documenting the human-animal relationship, so it is a theme that I am familiar with,’ Ai said.

‘I also have a long-term interest in Tibetan rugs and the motif of tigers on them for a long time. That’s why I accepted WWF’s invitation without hesitation,’ he said.

Traditionally, Tibetan rugs were made as gifts for Buddhist lamas. The tiger skin motif was thought to protect them during meditation.

Tigers themselves are in dire need of protection. The world’s wild tiger population plummeted from an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to around 3,900 in 2016. Numbers have since rebounded to 4,500 in July this year.

‘Over this last decade, a century-long trend of wild tiger decline has been reversed, providing a glimmer of hope,’ said Becci May, a programme advisor at WWF-UK. ‘Sadly, the trend of recovery is not consistent across all tiger range countries, with South-East Asia a particular concern.’

WWF aims to raise £1 million through Tomorrow’s Tigers 2022. Ai’s single edition rug is priced at £150,000, while the rugs of the other 11 artists are being sold in editions of up to ten for prices starting from £10,000.

The rugs will be exhibited at Sotheby’s London from 24 to 29 November, and will be available for purchase on WWF’s Art for Your World website.

‘In my opinion, human civilisation can only be measured against human beings’ relationship with other beings in the world, our tolerance and understanding towards other species, and the well-being of all life,’ Ai added.

‘Protection of endangered animals is a kind of self-love, without which we would all be living in a savage land,’ he said. —[O]

Main image: Ai Weiwei with his rug The Tyger (2022), commissioned for Tomorrow's Tigers and WWF-UK. Rug fabricated by Christopher Farr. Image © Thierry Bal, Courtesy Ai Weiwei.