DAI GUANGYU

This Land So Rich in Beauty was inspired by Mao Zedong’s (1896–1976) poem Snow, which expressed a grand vision of the nation’s history and geography. The painting was unveiled in 1959 for the tenth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. It hung in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for over thirty years before being replaced by a replica in 1990.

The commission of Guangdong-born Guan Shanyue for This Land So Rich in Beauty reflected the rise of Cantonese art to national prominence. From conception to execution, the work was a collaborative challenge: Guan and Fu needed to reconcile their different painting styles and interpret Mao’s poem with feedback from high officials.

And Thus Is This Land extends this collaborative process into the present. It asks participants to engage with each other, the artist, the original painters, and the poem that sparked this chain of creative work. They will navigate the tension between copying and adaptation, arriving at a work that both resembles the original yet is also wholly new.