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Alison Carroll, Senior Research Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne

The Past is Present: reflecting on 150 years of Chinese art at the National Gallery of Victoria

Scotty So, Wearing a mask at the end of the Spanish flu, no. 1 2020 inkjet print 76.3 × 50.8 cm (image) 86.5 × 61.0 cm (sheet). National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2021 © Scotty So

Earlier this month, Penny Wong detailed the last 50 years of Labor government engagement with China in her Whitlam Oration, tracing how the relationship’s varying warmth and chill have been politicised.

China – The Past is Present, the new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), is a wonderful context for this speech.

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