About the exhibition
Three European women discovered, set their eyes on, and photographed China at various historic moments that the country and its capital, Beijing, underwent -- a country cut off from the rest of the world and without any incoming external images. Three sets of eyes, three points of view, and many constants in a time of profound upheaval. But the daily life, the public space of the streets resist, and ancestral gestures persist. In the footsteps of the other two, each explore a country with multiple meeting points with History, all the while going about its day to day business.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Eva Siao, a German woman married to a Chinese man inside the intimate circle of Mao Zedong, documents the construction of a new power and focuses on new life as it unfolds.
In 1957, Mao Zedong sets up the "Hundred Flowers" campaign to re-establish the authority of the Communist Party. Dominique Darbois takes advantage of the brief opening of the country to foreigners to travel throughout China's cities and countryside, fully in the process of reorganization.
In 1966, Mao Zedong launches the Cultural Revolution. Solange Brand is a young employee at the French Embassy in Beijing. She takes pictures in color, in complete freedom, the daily life of a people swept away by the turbulence taking place in the tumults of History.
More information:
Elles et leurs regards sur la Chine 1949-1968 : Solange Brand, Dominique Darbois et Eva Siao
Dates: 12 janvier au 3 avril 2022
Venue: Mérignac – Vieille Église, France
