Συλλογή 016: National Portrait Gallery: Hung Liu - Portraits of Promised Lands
The story of America as a destination for the homeless and hungry of the world is not only a myth. It is a story of desperation, of sadness, of uncertainty, of leaving your home. It is also a story of determination, and—more than anything—of hope.
— Hung Liu, 2017
(* quote is taken from NPG's exhibit)
In a recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery with my friend Christian who finally came to DC(!!!), I briefly visited the Liu exhibit. The gallery was packed so I decided to come back at a quieter time and take some photos. The latter was a must, as my better half is working abroad and terribly misses the National Portrait Gallery. So I promised when a new exhibit happens, I will take pictures and post them for her.
There is a personal reason as well. As the son of immigrants, I never loose the chance to hear the stories of others who came to this country. Liu is correct; listening to my parents the story of this country is of desperation when all else falls apart in your homeland; it is of sadness as you leave family, friends, your way of life, home; and definitely uncertainty. My parents, especially my Dad loves to repeat stories. Most I say "yeah Dad I remember" but the stories about the journey to America, that uncertainty but also, that will to make it work and, yes, that hope all will go well, I keep quiet and listen. I listen to him tell me that when my mom was admitted to the hospital to give birth to me they had no clue about insurance and the bank account had only 20 bucks in it. And both could hardly speak any English.
Here are the photos from the exhibit. I was drawn to all of them but especially I found interesting Liu's paintings of Dorothea Lange's photos as I have been accustomed to seeing them in black and white Of note there was a little tweaking on the brightness and exposure but I double checked and the editing did not deviate from the paintings at the Gallery. High-res pictures are always available here.
I have put the titles of the paintings as captions. A PDF of curator comments can be found here: https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/hung-liu-portraits-promised-lands. On the left the site has a large print PDF you can download.
The following are under the "Gender" section.
The following are under the "Refugee" section.
The following are under the "After Lange" section. The following is a quot from Liu (found in the NPG guide):
This landscape of struggle is familiar terrain,
reminding me of the epic revolution and
displacement in Mao’s China. Only, now I am
painting American peasants looking for the
promised land.
—Hung Liu
Other paintings in the exhibit include:
