Recalling Bitterness (Yiku) Tasting Menu

Consisting of two double-sided large-format prints, the "Recalling Bitterness Tasting Menu" satirizes the Cultural Revolution ritual of "Recalling Bitterness and Savoring Sweetness." Emerging shortly after a period of unprecedented famine, this hypocritical and absurd ritual was designed to contrast the "bitterness" of life before Mao with the "sweetness" of life under his rule. During such collective events, people were served deliberately disgusting food as a "reminder" of the hardship of life before the Communist Party came to power. In my reinterpretation of this ritual, I instead designed a contemporary "Recalling Bitterness Tasting Menu," with each "dish" serving a story of famine and food shortages under the Maoist regime. The menu's dimensions are modeled after propaganda from the Mao Era.