Acrylic over four-color photomechanical print on paper mounted on foam-core board 29 1/4 x 21 in.
Smith College Museum of Art, Gift of Andrew Kim and Wan Kyun Rha Kim, Class of 1960.
SC 2004:40-1
In Zhang’s piece, the meaning is made clearer through translations of the Chinese. The text on Mao’s headband mimics the title of the piece: Serve the People. Like phrases on other banners in the background, it was a saying coined by Mao that became a popular slogan during the Maoist Era. Some of slogans were even made into songs. The texts on the white banners include, “Defeat the American invaders and their lackeys,” “Revolution is not a dinner party,” “It is not too late to control the population until it has reached one billion,” “Democracy leads the mainstream in today’s world….” Most of the red flags express “Long Live Chairman Mao!”, a proclamation previously reserved for emperors.