Marking the 50th anniversary of China’s Cultural Revolution, Robert Klein Gallery in association with Ars Libri, Ltd., present the rarely-seen color photographs of Solange Brand.
In May of 1966, Mao Zedong began a sociopolitical movement that would restore his position of absolute power that was lost after the failed Great Leap Forward. Known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Mao’s campaign would lead to the persecution, imprisonment, public humiliation, and deaths of millions of Chinese people, as well as the destruction of historical artifacts and relics, and the ransacking of Chinese cultural and religious sites.
At the same time, Solange Brand, then a nineteen-year-old secretary at the French Embassy in Beijing, would be an unknowing witness to one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history. With her 35mm Pentax camera and a supply of Agfacolor film, purchased and developed in embassy shops in Hong Kong, Brand, for her own recollection, photographed the events which would unfold around her.
Of the work, Brand states, “The pictures were not taken to prove anything; they were just a personal memento of a moment when I had no idea this would be an important period in the history of China. The photos show nothing of the dark side of the Cultural Revolution because I never witnessed it. Like all photographs, they reveal a fragment of reality and acquire meaning only when captioned or placed in context.”
EXHIBITION
China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966
Works by Solange Brand
From June 3rd to Agust 20th, 2016
Robert Klein Gallery @ Ars Libri
South End
500 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118
United States
Mon-Fri, 9 AM – 6 PM
Sat, 11 AM – 5 PM
