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Renowned Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen is completing an extraordinary and monumental artwork that he says gives meaning to his whole life. The former Red Guard is creating a fantastic parable of the history of Communism in the style that has established him as one of the world’s great historical painters.
Painted over seven years, his Tower of Babel masterpiece is an enormous four-panel work, depicting over 400 famous and infamous characters who were won over by the utopian vision of the communist movement, as well as many forgotten people who tragically lost their lives to revolution. It also includes remixes of over 100 iconic artworks by left-wing artists including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in an immersive artwork that surrounds the viewer in his vast three-storey studio.
As Jiawei’s masterpiece progresses, he and his wife Lan Wang (herself an artist) tell their own stories of lives shared with millions of others in Mao Zedong’s China during the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution, before the traumatic events of June 1989 in Tiananmen Square led them to resettle in Australia.
Welcome To Babel puts an intimate and human face to an extraordinary couple and the story of their generation in China and Australia as it asks whether the present can learn from the past.
Curriculum Links:
Welcome To Babel is relevant to secondary students in Years 9–12 in the learning areas of:
- Chinese
- English
- History
- Media
- Politics
- Visual Arts
It also has relevance to the General Capabilities of Literacy and Intercultural Understanding, as well as the Cross-curriculum Priorities of Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia.
Activities in this study guide provide opportunities for students to:
- Analyse, interpret and respond to artworks.
- Develop an understanding of the values and belief systems of the artists who create these artworks, and of the viewers or audiences who view or experience them.
- Engage in historical thinking and inquiry about Communism and the Cultural Revolution.
- Think critically about political issues, crises and challenges to democracy.
- Describe and discuss the ways that a documentary depicts events, people, places and themes.
- Research and apply information about the subjects explored in Welcome To Babel.
- Develop and justify their own interpretations of Welcome To Babel.
- Present findings in appropriate forms for different audiences and purposes.
Running time: 54 mins
ATOM has produced a study guide for Welcome To Babel. The study guide is available for download here.
