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Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei is no stranger to exile. His father was an exiled poet and now, the controversial, explosive artist lives in exile himself. “Being a refugee is being someone who is not accepted by society, who has been pushed out,” he says at the beginning of the video above.

Ai grew up as a refugee, spending years living in labour camps with his father. As a political activist he was under constant surveillance by the Chinese government. But none of this came in the way of his artistic work, the most recent of which is Human Flow, a documentary about the global refugee crisis.

In the video above, Ai discusses the shocking plight of refugees across the world. He had said in a previous interview, “I am a refugee, every bit. Those people are me. That’s my identity.” He reiterates that thought in the video, while stressing that the entire crisis is man-made.

“We are in the age of internet and globalisation and so-called democracy or freedom, and the exchange of ideas. I think all the crises we see today are human crises; they’re made by humans,” he states.

“These people lost everything...they have been though and seen so much tragedy, death and unthinkable conditions, and I think the least we can do is help them,” says the artist.

Ai’s documentary Human Flow (trailer below) chronicles the unprecedented crisis. He visited 23 countries, over 40 refugee camps, and interviewed more than 600 people. “If we can’t help those people, who can help them?” he says.

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