SONG RUXIN
(b. 1946) Yan'an, China

"Picking up the New Movie" 1977
woodcut, 21" x 31"

This print depicts the film brigade that is responsible for distributing propaganda films around the commune, an activity often undertaken by urban intellectual youth that were “sent down” to the countryside to live and work with the peasants. The architectural style is typical of the northern Shaanxi yaodong (cave home) that peasants lived in and the young man’s white headdress indicates that he is a local peasant while the two young girls wear more modern clothes typical of the urban youth sent to the countryside.