An exhibit, “Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China,” is on view at the Wesleyan University Mansfield Freeman Center College of East Asian Studies Gallery, at 343 Washington Terrace in Middletown.
John Groo / Contributed photoMIDDLETOWN — Wesleyan University is presenting a new exhibition featuring a collection of donated propaganda posters from China, and curated by faculty and students.
“Strong Bodies for the Revolution: Pursuing Health and Power in the People’s Republic of China,” is on display in the College of East Asian Studies Gallery at the Mansfield Freeman Center, at 343 Washington Terrace.
Posters were donated by the family of Ruth and Victor Sidel, according to a news release.
“The exhibition offers a different perspective on the cultural revolution and early days of reform and opening,” Ying Jia Tan, assistant professor of History and East Asian Studies, said in a prepared statement. “While the political persecutions carried out during the cultural revolution traumatized an entire generation of Chinese people and led to great suffering, many policies were put in place to improve the public health of China’s urban and rural regions.”
The exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on how societies choose to confront disease, Tan added. “The centerpiece of the exhibition, a poster about the eradication of snail fever, sums up the challenges that we face in the post COVID-19 world.
“The caption reads ‘Thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses bid farewell to the God of Plague,” Tan added. “Just as Mao had mobilized the people to eradicate schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease carried by water snails that afflicted peasants in rice-growing regions in south China, China today is pouring massive resources to maintain its COVID-zero policy.”
Wesleyan students Sam Smith and Christina Lu spent the last two years on the project.
Wendi Field Murray, adjunct assistant professor of East Asian Studies and Archaeology and archaeology collections manager, supervised the students’ efforts.
“Both have worked tirelessly on processing and researching the donated posters so we could make them available for class viewing, research and exhibits,” Murray said in the statement. “For me, the preparation that went into the exhibit demonstrated that object collections are beautifully effective in connecting students to the past, providing a concrete point of departure for exploring abstract concepts (like ‘revolution’ or ‘health’), and helping them to use material culture to critically reflect on the present.”
Through their collections work, both learned how to “read” three-dimensional objects, to practice good stewardship of cultural objects, and to “tease out an object’s capacity to tell stories,” Wesleyan said. “The exhibition gives the public the opportunity to see those stories in full color, alongside the products of these students’ work — translations, cataloging, and research.”
The display is curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts and Adjunct Instructor in Art Benjamin Chaffee and Exhibitions Manager Rosemary Lennox.
It is on view through May 21, Tuesday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. COVID safety guidelines will be followed. For information, visit wesleyan.edu.