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Not forgotten: 'The Other Side of the Tracks' tells the untold stories of those who died working on the US railway system
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As the Transcontinental Railroad knit the East Coast to the West Coast, the stories of those who worked on and died for it often went untold.
The exhibition 鈥淭he Other Side of the Tracks鈥� at 516 Arts attempts to correct that omission through the works of nine artists. They explore themes and histories surrounding the construction of the U.S. railway system from the perspective of the exploited and overlooked people who built it.
Not forgotten: 'The Other Side of the Tracks' tells the untold stories of those who died working on the US railway system
Guest curated by Jorge Rojas, the exhibit was conceived with Salt Lake City鈥檚 Ogden Contemporary Arts and Denver鈥檚 RedLine Contemporary Art Center.
鈥淚n 2019, it was the 150th anniversary of the completion of the railroad,鈥� Rojas said. 鈥淚 felt like there鈥檚 never been an exhibit about the railroad that really looked at other parts of the history.鈥�
Those aspects include the stories of the Chinese immigrants who built it and the Native Americans it displaced.
鈥淚 saw an amazing opportunity to curate an exhibit that would fill in the blanks,鈥� he said.
Chinese American artist Zhi Lin鈥檚 version of 鈥淐hinaman鈥檚 Chance on Promontory Summit: Golden Spike Celebration, 12:30pm, May 10, 1869鈥� represents his take on the original photograph by Andrew J. Russell, which ignored the efforts of the Chinese workmen.
Lin is a multimedia artist whose work examines patterns of violence, intolerance, injustice and complicity in public behavior.
Different sources estimate that from 1865 to the railroad鈥檚 completion in 1869, anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 Chinese workers were employed by the Central Pacific Railroad, or 80% to 90% of the company鈥檚 workforce. More than 1,000 of them died.
Chinese workers were often assigned to dangerous tasks, such as placing explosives to clear a path through the Sierra Nevada. They also worked in extreme weather, including snow and avalanches.
Some of their bodies were left to rot; others were shoved into barrels marked 鈥減ickles,鈥� Rojas said.
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 composer/performance artist Raven Chacon collaborated with experimental composer Guillermo Galindo to create 鈥淐aesura.鈥�
The pair collected train trash 鈥� think old railroad spikes 鈥� and used them as instruments.
鈥淚t provides a very emotive, sonic composition,鈥� Rojas said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very powerful.鈥�
sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Caroline Liu created her painting 鈥淚n The Shadow of The Mountain鈥� referencing Chinese dragons and koi snaked by railroad tracks.
鈥淪he鈥檚 referencing 鈥榤enshen鈥� 鈥� Chinese door guides for protection,鈥� Rojas said.
Arizona鈥檚 Chip Thomas is a photographer, public artist and doctor who worked in a small clinic on the Navajo Nation for 36 years.
His inkjet print on silk 鈥淭he bison didn鈥檛 cross the tracks; the tracks crossed the bison鈥� shows a herd of the animals being shot at from a train. Killing the animals nearly to extinction was never an official government policy, but it was encouraged, Rojas said.
Denver鈥檚 Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) is a nationally and internationally recognized multidisciplinary artist, activist and 鈥渄isruptor.鈥� Deal paired two railroad ties into the form of a cross, casting his hands and feet in plaster to create the forms of a crucifix. Barbed wire formed a crown of thorns. Railroad spikes stab his hands and feet.
It is a visual representation of Manifest Destiny in the name of God.
鈥淗e鈥檚 looking at this justification of death and imprisonment all under this God-given expansion,鈥� Rojas said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not meant to be a corrective of history,鈥� Rojas said of the exhibit, 鈥渂ut it is meant to inspire dialogue. I think it鈥檚 very important to reflect on this history.鈥�
