According to Getty Images, Takashi Murakami and Ai Weiwei are the same person.
A Getty Images photographer snapped a photo of Takashi, a Japanese contemporary artist, at Off-White’s Paris fashion show on Jan. 15. However, the image labeled Takashi as Ai Wei Wei, a well-known Chinese artist and activist.
Takashi called out the mistake in an Instagram post on Saturday.
“Why all time Major media make same mistake?” he asked in the caption. “Me and Ai wayway is so close?”
Takashi’s followers chimed in.
“People still getting Japanese people confused with Chinese people in 2020 smh,” Instagram user lashsux commented.
This wasn’t the first time the two artists were mixed up. In July 2018, Takashi tweeted a video of an encounter with a White man, who had asked him if he was Ai Weiwei.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThis VIDEO again he ask me “Are you A iway way @aiww ?”
— takashi murakami (@takashipom) July 11, 2018
Ofcourse I said “Yes I am Aiway way” S… https://t.co/mOHJCjdniq pic.twitter.com/IDaoYDILlh
“Ofcourse I said “Yes I am Aiway way,” Takashi tweeted.
Getty Images has since corrected the caption of the photo of Takashi. While the mistake appeared harmless and Takashi seemed to take it well, Getty Images only continued to perpetuate the stereotype that “all Asians look alike.”
“2 Asian contemporary artists with a beard is enough to make [Getty Images] feel confused,” Instagram user storklaa commented, with a facepalm emoji for emphasis.
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