Stevens Vaughn and Rodney Cone are ceramicists in Xiamen, China, from out of a sculpting studio in Dehua, the city of Blanc de Chine porcelain and traditional crafts. Stevens with artists from China and Europe.

​

In their personal dedication to the arts and to Chinese culture, the two started to collect and support local and inter-cultural art. During their travels in Shanghai and Beijing in the late ‘90’s, they noticed large numbers of original posters from the Red Army Cultural Bureau being sold at street auctions and local markets.

​

They found these artistic and historical art pieces to be of both historical and aesthetic importance. The Hafnia Foundation's diverse collection, covering major aspects of Chinese propaganda posters was born.

​

The posters were exhibited in Argentina at the Centro Cultural Borges in

San Martin, Argentina 2013 and later same year in Santiago, Chile. In 2016, the posters travelled to Italy and were exhibited at Villa Bertelli, Forte Dei Marmi,

and in Museo di Roma in Trastevere in 2017.

​

In 2019, the poster collection was exhibited with a new perspective, that of the Women's Movement in China. In collaboration with the Danish Culture Institute in the 798 Art District Beijing, Stevens Vaughn and Rodney Cone curated the exhibition “Women Hold up Half the Sky” as part of the Danish Culture Centre's 2019 focus on women's emancipation movements in China and Denmark titled “Iron ladies and Red Stockings”. The exhibition was a great success and accommodated over 100,000 visitors, with featured articles in Beijing Daily and coverage on WeChat and other local online platforms in the cultural community. The exhibition is scheduled to be shown at the Women's Museum in Denmark in August 2020.

​

Above: poster from the Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Below: photos from the exhibition and symposium, performances and talks held at the Danish Culture Institute in relation to the exhibition.