Water Festival, Song of Life

This mural is the commissioned for a terminal in Beijing International Airport. Yuan Yunsheng got this commission when he was in Yunnan, and the local ethnic minorities became his inspiration of the mural. The mural depicts the Water Festival of the Dai ethnic group, during which the Dai people splash water at each other as a way of cleansing and bringing good luck.

Compared to modernist style of the mural, the Dai people depicted in the scene are still “primitive.” As the forest encloses the festive crowd, leaving no trace of modern life, it isolates the Dai people from the outside world, the real world. In this mural, the life of Dai people has become a dream of simple, harmonious life, far from the changes and anxiety of the Chinese society.

 

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Water Festival, Song of Life

This mural is the commissioned for a terminal in Beijing International Airport. Yuan Yunsheng got this commission when he was in Yunnan, and the local ethnic minorities became his inspiration of the mural. The mural depicts the Water Festival of the Dai ethnic group, during which the Dai people splash water at each other as a way of cleansing and bringing good luck.

Compared to modernist style of the mural, the Dai people depicted in the scene are still “primitive.” As the forest encloses the festive crowd, leaving no trace of modern life, it isolates the Dai people from the outside world, the real world. In this mural, the life of Dai people has become a dream of simple, harmonious life, far from the changes and anxiety of the Chinese society.