The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, a master of social media, has started a new Instagram meme: hold up your leg and pretend you're aiming it like a gun.
It's unclear what the controversial artist is trying to say with the gag, but his Instagram feed has now been taken over by dozens of leg gun photos from fans. Men, women, children, dolls, Chinese, Americans, Kermit the Frog, and even one amputee with a prosthetic have joined in on the game.
The move appears to have come from a Communist-era ballet, based on a photo noticed by Quartz. The caption on the first post translates as "Beijing anti-terrorism series," according to The Guardian. It may be a comment on the recent Tiananmen Square anniversary, school shootings in the US, the World Cup, or a general protest of the Chinese government, according to various commentators. Or it might just be for fun. The meme has gotten more creative. In one photo taken in profile, friends line up their leg guns and aim over each other's shoulders while sitting on a set of stairs. In another, a man in a gas mask sits at a computer and aims his leg gun at a picture of Mickey Mouse.
Source THE VERGE
