MAO ON THE WALL (China, 1994-2003)
In 1976, when news of the death of the Chinese leader Mao was released, the elementary school Wang Tong attended immediately began with memorial ceremonies. After seeing a tear on his teacher’s face, Wang Tong himself cried uncontrollably. His grief was honest, he says now, although the result of indoctrination. Years later, when he saw a weathered portrait of Mao on a wall, the scene came back to his mind. Wang Tong decided to document the public worship of the Great Leader, so inseparable from his boyhood and China. It appeared to be a race against the clock, as the portraits were increasingly disappearing before rising modernity. After nine years Wang Tong called a halt to his project; he had had enough, and acknowledged that the future had indeed arrived.
