Hung Liu's exhibition "Happy and Gay" at Georgetown University showcases her reflections on the propaganda imagery from Maoist China, a product of her challenging past. Having experienced personal trauma, with her mother destroying family photos amid political turmoil, and societal upheaval during Mao's Cultural Revolution, Liu's work delves into themes of memory and identity. Arriving in the U.S. in 1984, her art often centers on immigrant narratives, utilizing historical photographs and reimagining propaganda illustrations from her early life, effectively merging her cultural experiences with her artistic expression.
"Happy and Gay," an exhibition at Georgetown University’s Maria & Alberto de la Cruz Gallery, presents some of Liu's responses to the propaganda materials Maoist China substituted for real-world images.
Liu's paintings are usually derived from photographs, but most of this show's pictures remake simple illustrations from books designed to indoctrinate Chinese kids in the 1950s and '60s.
The show was curated by Georgetown graduate students with Dorothy Moss, formerly curator of painting and sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, and now director of Liu's estate.
Liu's work in the United States often focused on the roles and mythologies of immigrants, especially those of Chinese origin.
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