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Every third Thursdays is free admission day in Tacoma art museum, so I went to Tacoma only third Thursday... haha..  The museum had two very different view of exhibitions on America’s railroad industry history ; Abby Hill’s artworks, which had been drawn for railroads industry companies’s advertisements, and Zhi Lin’s artworks about the history of Chinese migrant workers who had contributed to construct railroads in the 19th and early 20th centuries of America. Even though the museum didn’t relate both exhibitions intentionally, I could compare different view on America’s railroads industry history ; if Hill’s artworks represented the surface of America’s railroads industry history, Zhi Lin’s works pointed out the another hidden history of the America’s railroad industry. This exhibition also reminded me of the U.S. history class like Abby Hill's exhibition. If I were a teacher, I would give students to see relevant exhibitions in any museum as assignments. The glory of the railroads industry, which took a massive role on leading the second industrialization of America, had been achieved on many people’s sacrifices. And here is added America’s unique historic backgrounds, those people consisted to many migrants workers from various different countries. While native workers were suffering the dangerous and hard work conditions, migrants workers suffered adding another struggles such as less wages than natives, being excluded in the unions, and race discrimination. Moreover, they were forced to be kicked out after finish the works because of native workers’ fear of job competition and xenophobia.  East Meets West at the Laying of the Last Rail, Andrew. J. Russell, 1869 (from Wikipedia) Why have the traces or records about migrant workers remained very little, although there were probably lots of Chinese workers who had contributed and been sacrificed to develop the America like above picture? The picture was taken after finish of the first transcontinental railroad construction which was referred to as a symbol of 'East meets West'.  "Chinaman's Chance" on Promontory Summit : Golden Spike Celebration, 12:30pm, 10th May 1869, 2014 Inspired by the picture, the artist made a film. The film has a view of backside of the original picture. I at first didn’t realize why the film showed the back of people and locomotives. After soon, I could be side of Chinese workers. The film was taken in the view of being excluded people. I felt like I was an outsider. I don't like that feeling.. Like this case, Zhi Lin came to discover the absence of particular history and the trace of intentional getting rid of migrant workers’ history by Americans in the process of researching, and he called it ‘the historical omission’, and ‘the ethnic cleansing’. Here, the artist came to realize his role as an artist who expresses what he discovered and felt through the language of art : revealing the lost and omitted history of migrants, honoring the forgotten sacrificed migrants.  Snowstorm on the Cascade Summit Switchback, 2016  Constellations over the Sierra Nevada, 2016 blog.naver.com/jnlee89z/221125134768
The works were contained full of metaphors and symbols, and took indirect forms to express Chinese migrants workers’ suffering and their lost history. In his works, ‘sympathy’ and ‘empathy’ are key motivations. To do these, he made field trips when the weather was heavy rainy or snowy in which workers probably had worked to make himself be in similar conditions. I really like his way of expression. And the works are so beautiful. Looking up the night sky full of stars in the Sierra Nevada, the Zhi Lin felt connected himself to migrant workers who also had seen stars in the same space during the work, and made him inspired to draw beautiful works. This exhibition and the artist’s way proved that art can take a very important role in remaking and spreading human history as if many civilizations and religions had contained and spread their history, philosophies, ideologies, and stories by using the form of art like paintings, literature, and music etc. Zhi Lin’s arts can be a new history seen through the eye of minorities who were repressed, and can be shared with the society to be expected to prevent happening this kind of shameful history. Korean version blog.naver.com/jnlee89z/221125134768
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