The Jacket of Life or Death

Christian Cohr Arffmann

doi:10.6092/issn.2036-1602/7866

Authors

Christian Cohr Arffmann
Master of Arts. Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature and Visual Culture, from Università degli Studi di Firenze and from University of Aarhus, Denmark, 2010. Wrote his master’s thesis about absorption and contemplation in Henry Fielding’s 18 th Century literary tableaux. Currently employed as a communications officer in the Council on International Relations of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-1602/7866

Keywords:

Mourning, Life jacket, Derrida, Weiwei, Soleil Levant

Abstract

The recent art installations by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei have attracted a lot of attention. Consisting primarily of thousands of life jackets worn by refugees arriving in Europe after a dangerous voyage crossing the Mediterranean Sea, Weiwei’s art installations have drawn focus on the deaths and disappearances of thousands of refugees. This paper discusses the symbolism of the life jacket, both seen as a fatal anchor and a life preserver. Analysing the art piece Soleil Levant, I will argue that Weiwei’s art is a work of mourning and is offering a temporary space in the contemporary city for negotiating the complexities and ambivalences of mourning and the impossible task of keeping the dead alive. As a symbol hovering between life and death, the life jacket is thus an emblematic illustration of mourning.

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