Editorial
/
Visual Identity
Seek Truth
/ About the project
Today’s Chinese government wields formidable tools—state-controlled media, pervasive surveillance, and censorship—to maintain its control. This book ventures into this paradoxical world where, amid escalating control, a brave group of Chinese artists employs photography, film, graphic design, and modern art to reveal truths, often at great personal risk. They stand as voices against the suppressive grip of censorship.
/ INDUSTRY
Politics, Protest
/ Credits
Instructor: Tracey Shiffman
TA: Addis Barge
Printing: Nonstop Printing
/ Year
2024
Cover
The book cover features a bold design with a rectangular die-cut revealing President Xi’s partial face amid the book’s title. The artwork, crafted by cartoonist Badiucao, portrays Chinese student Yang Shuping, who faced online backlash for remarks deemed critical of the government. This powerful visual encapsulates the challenges of political expression in China.
Interior
SEEK TRUTH spans across 72 pages of premium coated paper, organized into three distinct sections. The first section, A History of Oppression, chronicles the historical instances of Chinese citizens enduring various forms of oppression enforced by their government. In the second section, Voices of Resistance, the spotlight shines on contemporary Chinese artists who courageously defy the CCP, risking their lives to advocate for free speech and express dissenting viewpoints. Concluding the book, A Silent Unity delves into the ingenious strategies employed by protestors and ordinary citizens to amplify their voices within a perilous landscape where any form of dissent poses significant risks.
Poster
The poster unveiling the launch of SEEK TRUTH, displayed prominently in Chinatown, showcases a provocative depiction: a defaced portrait of Chairman Mao, with the title revealed through a prominent tear. Overlaid onto this image is a gallery displaying all the featured art pieces from the book, serving as a tribute to the courage and sacrifices of Chinese artists. The tearing and paint alterations were executed by hand, photographed from above. The Chinatown landscape is realized through MidJourney AI.
A secondary version of the poster was created and strategically displayed across diverse locations in Los Angeles, aiming to heighten awareness regarding the challenges of censorship encountered by Chinese artists. I documented these distributed posters through photography, capturing their presence in various settings throughout the city.
Process
The trim size of the book is 8x12”, mirroring the aspect ratio of the Little Red Book. An 8-column grid provides structure and flexibility for a variety of article lengths and formats.
Throughout the book, diverse artworks by various artists, encompassing photographers, painters, cartoonists, exhibition artists, and filmmakers, are interwoven with a distinctive approach. To create a unified aesthetic, I deliberately altered the artworks by slashing them with a knife, tearing them apart, and adding splashes of red paint. These modified pieces were subsequently scanned and digitally incorporated into the pages. This consistent method of defacing the artwork serves to underscore the harshness of governmental oppression and the gravity of the issues addressed by the contributing artists.
A 1971 propaganda poster from China’s Cultural Revolution featured a factory worker holding the iconic Little Red Book, symbolizing the spread of ideology to the masses. Though Mao’s revolution ended, its legacy endures, now manifesting through state surveillance via smartphones. With the CCP controlling social media and news, the smartphone has become the regime’s new propaganda tool. I reimagine this evolution by depicting the original poster alongside a modern version, where the worker holds a smartphone instead of the Little Red Book.
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