Woman Operating a Loom in a Silk Factory, Vincent Samuel Mentzel, 1977

photographic support, h 404mm × w 507mm More details
© Vincent Samuel Mentzel

Order rather than chaos: this is what Mao stood for and imposed on the Chinese people. Photojournalist Mentzel travelled throughout China shortly after the death of the Great Helmsman, as Mao was called. He portrayed this female factory worker in a characteristic setting, with room for neither idleness nor deceit. The text on the sign above her head admonishes her to ‘Deeply reveal and criticize firmly.’ Mentzel photographed in Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe for his newspaper the NRC Handelsblad.