A close study of Luo Zhongli’s 1980 painting Father powerfully communicates the man of the earth, one who bears and has borne others’ burdens, who has been bowed down to the point of exhaustion on behalf of those he loves. The light resting on his face and on the bowl of tea seem to immortalize him, celebrating his humanity as something that perhaps lasts beyond death. However Luo intended this beautiful detail on the face of a forgotten man, that lighted countenance testifies to the image of God in all who have worked, suffered, and sacrificed.

Luo Zhongli portrayed an aging farmer in a format usually reserved for deifying China’s political leaders.