Opening Reception | "Hung Liu: Happy and Gay"

Join us for a reception to celebrate the opening of Hung Liu: Happy and Gay at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art Pavilion at 6:00 p.m.

Organized by Georgetown University Art Galleries, and curated by Dr. Dorothy Moss and Georgetown graduate students, this exhibition features works by Hung Liu which adapt and subvert Maoist propaganda cartoons that were published during the 1950s. In the series, Liu revisits cartoons of her youth that were published in children's books and primers (known as xiaorenshu). Like the Dick and Jane readers circulating in the United States during the postwar era, the illustrations were used to socialize children by instilling values such as hard work, family unity, and patriotism. Liu's reformulation of this palm-size historic childhood imagery as large-scale, richly-painted contemporary canvases not only turns mass-produced illustrations into paintings but also raises questions at the intersection of ideology, propaganda, and education. Liu invites viewers to think critically about the words and images that shape our collective identities, challenging us to reimagine them, a form of rewriting history. The exhibition is on view through May 31, 2026.

Bowdoin College is committed to providing an accessible and welcoming environment. Please contact the Events Office (events@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3433) with any questions regarding the accessibility of this event and/or to request accommodations. Please note: some accommodations require advance notice and may require documentation of a disabling condition. 

Image: Hung Liu, Red Flag Flowing, 2012, Oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches. © Hung Liu Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

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