Red is a deep memory that flows in the veins, a memory of turbulence and passion – a sunny colorful childhood drenched in bright red, fervent songs quoting Chairman Mao, the rural reeducation movement of the Red Guards, Model Operas and revolutionary ideals all related to the color red which carries with it a part of history.
That spectacular and stirring era has passed instantly. Look around: what we’re facing is a thorough revolution. Everything seems to have changed overnight: social transformation, economic resurgence, and burgeoning materialism. Chinese society has gone from being homogeneous to being pluralistic, from being confined to being open.
Feelings once unconsciously hidden inside of us become stronger. This emotional romance is bigger than the intellectual confusion. In that era, people didn’t lack romance: Chairman Mao was the people’s idol. Everybody wore a Mao badge, and held a “little red book” with Mao’s portrait on the cover; every home had a Mao portrait on their wall, a ceramic Mao sculpture on their table; every square was presided over by a tall statue of Mao waving his hand – it’s like a kind of worship and adoration of a deity. The Women of Steel, the Red Detachment of Women were the sexy feminine beauties of that time. People who were too young at that time only perceived things as bright and beautiful, but we considered those revolutionary songs, genre paintings and propaganda posters as real life. People were full of energy, iron-willed and standing firm, optimistic and positive, hard working and frugal, with strong hopes. A gleam of warmth, happiness and excitement arises out of nowhere whenever we look back on that era.
I try to make use of symbols to build a real but dreamlike memorial world in order to convey the social reality of that era and to explore and provide a kind of possibility to rethink and understand. Although history has already been smashed to pieces, it’s still lucid. It’s like the countless stars in the sky that we tried to count when we were children, they are still above us, and though we can’t see them, they still shine brightly in our hearts.
