Ho Tam, Bowl with Mao (FC-001) (2025)

Ho Tam  
Bowl with Mao (FC-001) 
2025  
inkjet on glossy photo paper  
edition of 5  
22 x 17 inches
unframed
 
 
Bowl is a round, open-top container used in many cultures to serve food, and is also used for drinking and storing other items. Chinese bowl that is associated with meals is often called a rice bowl. 
 
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, which he governed as Chairman of the Communist Party from its establishment in 1949 until his death. His Marxist-Leninist theories, military strategies and political policies are collectively known as Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought.
 
In 1957 he launched a campaign known as the Great Leap Forward that aimed to rapidly transform China’s economy from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. Because of the lack of planning and understanding of industrialization, this campaign, along with natural disasters that occurred at the time, was a huge failure and led to the Great Chinese Famine which caused the death of millions.