Badiucao x Human Rights Foundation

Takes Over Art Basel in Miami Beach

Chinese dissident artist Badiucao releases his artistic takes on boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Badiucao’s Beijing 2022 Olympics collection can be seen in various locations across Miami, FL starting November 28 to December 11. This campaign, launched by the Human Rights Foundation during Art Basel Miami Beach 2021, strives to raise awareness among the global art community about the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. 

The collection includes five pieces of art, detailing the Chinese government’s repression of the Tibetan people, the Uyghur genocide, the dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong, the regime’s omnipresent surveillance systems, and lack in transparency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.  The main message of this collection is to call for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics due to the Chinese government’s disrespect for rule of law, human rights, and freedom.

The collection was initially released at the New World Center’s Soundscape Park as part of the 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum in Miami.

Badiucao is an exiled Chinese dissident artist based in Australia whose work has taken on a wide variety of forms, including political cartoons, installations, street art, and performances. His art is renowned for denouncing human rights abuses and the suppression of free speech in China. Badiucao’s own family in China has been targeted by the regime’s repressive apparatus for his activism. Prior to several of his family members receiving threats from the government, Badiucao remained anonymous. After years of using a pseudonym, he decided to step out and accepted media interviews on camera. Today, his artwork is at the forefront of raising awareness about human rights abuses in not only mainland China, but also in Hong Kong, Tibet, the Uyghur Region (Xinjiang), Thailand, and Burma.

Badiucao was awarded HRF’s Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent in 2020. He was also an inaugural artist-in-residence of HRF and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts’ Art in Protest Residency program this year. Most recently, Badiucao’s collaboration with NBA basketball player Enes Kanter has generated a blizzard of media coverage. Badiucao hand-painted customized shoes denouncing China’s repression, which Kanter has worn on court for several games this NBA season. 

More of Badiucao’s artworks are on display in the Art in Protest digital gallery.