Forbidden City 1989

57 x 57 cm
acrylic & pencil on canvas
 
A single protestor stands alone in front of a column of Chinese army tanks.
This image is seen as maybe the greatest image of protest in modern times.
The tanks were leaving Tiananmen Square, Beijing the day after government troops had massacred many hundreds of protestors. This is known in China as the June Fourth Incident.
The protests had started a few months previously, mainly by students but with some workers. The general theme of the protests were against government corruption and the lack of freedom of speech and the lack of a free press. The severity of a strict Maoist government had been ebbing away for many years. The high officials of government were becoming rich and corrupt and the poor were becoming more and more desperate.
At the height of the protests over one million people gathered in Tiananmen Square. The government did not bend and ordered martial law, the protesters resisted and as a result thousands of people were killed or injured.