Welcome to Babel

Renowned artist Jiawei Shen is an obsessive, determined man, but his latest project - 'Tower of Babel' - is crazy even for him (at least according to his wife, fellow artist Lan Wang). His goal is to paint an epic mural 4 panels, 130 square meters and 3 stories high that will take years to complete, on the turbulent history of Communism, a work that he says will give meaning to his whole life. As Jiawei paints his new masterpiece, he and Lan tell their own enthralling stories of life in Mao's China through the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution, before the traumatic events of June 1989 in Tiananmen Square saw them settle in Australia. Jiawei's enormous passion and extraordinary talent becomes apparent as hundreds of famous characters, artworks, love stories and battles appear on the walls of his vast studio and immerse the viewer in what art critic John McDonald calls 'The ultimate exclamation mark on 20th Century history'. Welcome To Babel puts an intimate and human face to a monumental work, an extraordinary couple and the story of their generation.