A monumental exhibition on Alcatraz inspires thousands to connect with prisoners of conscience worldwide. While under house arrest in Beijing, Ai Weiwei remotely transformed Alcatraz, a former island penitentiary and current national park, into a remarkable expression of socially engaged art. The final artwork at Alcatraz, Yours Truly, consisted of postcards beautifully illustrated with the national birds and flowers of the prisoners’ countries. Visitors were invited to write messages of hope to the imprisoned activists featured in the Lego portraits. By the time the exhibition ended, over 90,000 postcards had been sent. Then something even more astonishing happened: prisoners and their families began writing back.
