In a seminar at the University of Washington in Seattle, in May 2016, I met Yu Yin, a Chinese student. Yin had in her cell an amazing collection of postcards in socialist realism style of the 1950s and she told me that they were part of the Chinese state propaganda then made to celebrate the Sino – Soviet friendship. The images are aesthetically remarkable and project a surprising male homoerotic atmosphere. I had no time to explore further to check whether the postcards are authentic or an insightful piece of contemporary, which discloses male homosexual affection in China and Russia in the 1950’s, ironizes the widely cited homophobic sexual morality of these regimes and triggers interesting reflections about Communist androcentrism. Either authentic or a product of contemporary art the pictures are gorgeous and instigating. Enjoy!
Sonia Corrêa
Click here to see the postcard gallery