“The historical spirit and the artist both want to remake the world. But the artist, through an obligation of his nature, knows his limits, which the historical spirit fails to recognize. This is why the latter’s aim is tyranny whereas the former’s passion is freedom. All those who are struggling for freedom today are ultimately fighting for beauty.” – Albert Camus, “Helen’s Exile”, 1948

“The blue U.S. Postal Service container is an innocuous part of everyday life in the United States. This one is an unaltered found object where the significance is impacted by the context and location of its display. In 2020, President Donald Trump questioned the role of mail-in voting in the U.S. presidential election, claiming, without evidence, widespread electoral fraud. For Ai, this slightly rusty, weather-worn object represents a precarious democratic process in free elections whose neutrality could be easily questioned.”