Ai Weiwei Rebar in Gold bracelet for Elisabetta Cipriani

EDITOR'S REVIEW

The Rebar in Gold bracelet was inspired by Ai Weiwei’s investigation into the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, which killed approximately 70,000 people. The Rebar in Gold bracelet for Elisabetta Cipriani simulates the shapes of contorted steel found in the wreckage. The artist’s decision to craft the bracelet from yellow gold - a material traditionally reflecting wealth and eternity - was in order to create a direct contradiction to the tragic destruction caused by the earthquake, and as a consequence of substandard government building regulations. It serves as a delicate memorial to the human life lost in the earthquake’s rubble.