Tania Branigan for The Guardian

"It's never about me," says Ai, now 54. "[My supporters] use me as a mark for themselves to recognise their own form of life: I become their medium. I am always very clear about that."

AI WEIWEI

I think of The Quiet Front as something internal, a battle that you fight with yourself against your own limits and the easy answers provided by others but I am always reminded that in many places, the battle for freedom is not on a quiet front at all.

Ai Weiwei is my hero.