Mao in the private home

Mao’s presence was not just public but private, too, as reflected in popular propaganda materials since the 1950s, many of which show the Mao portrait in the living room and in familiar situations (ill. 5.58). This presence is continually negotiated in contemporary artworks suggesting that even after his death and the end of the Cultural Revolution, Mao continues to “haunt” private homes as visible in a 1995 mixed media installation by Zhang Hongtu: behind the innocent-looking doors can be made out (and heard, through a door knocking sound) Big Brother Mao, watching you as he peers through the peephole of your door (Look who is knocking).