Hung Liu, who was born in China, painted portraits of everyday individuals—often those who are marginalized or displaced. In this painting Liu drew upon a 1938 photograph of a man in Tennessee taken by the American photographer Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression (1929–39). Through Liu’s use of color and the introduction of symbolic motifs, she transforms the original photograph in important ways. A cotton blossom appears above the man’s shoulder, suggesting the abusive practice of sharecropping and the violent history of chattel slavery for African Americans. The gold background recalls the gold in religious icons, emphasizing the man’s status as a person to be revered and honored. 

The outlines of a bird and a flower appear to the man’s right. This reference to the traditional practice of Chinese bird-and-flower painting imparts Liu’s heritage onto the work. Portions of the man’s clothes and the cotton blossom also appear to be dripping. Liu often used dripping paint to indicate the erosion of memory and draw attention to what is forgotten or left out of history.

Hung Liu (American, 1948–2021), I Hear Their Gentle Voices Calling. Mixed media and multilayer resin, 2017. 82 × 82 × 2 in. (208.3 × 208.3 × 5.1 cm). Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 2018.26. On view in Gallery 10.