Traveling through Time
Exhibited at Portland Art Center December 2007
Part of a group show It Takes a Village
How is it that we portray history in a way that makes us feel safe and doesn't open up old misgivings? Usually by leaving out the history of those who were subject to oppression. Of course it's common place to discuss "a people's history" that tells the story of those not as victorious and we then demonize the victor for being racist, classist, sexist, etc. It's easy to do so from our vantage with hindsight bias acting as our liaison between our history and our own stories, in turn making questions of the -isms and ists seem as if we've already covered the topics. We look to the Red States, the rural, the South as our new touchstone for our own oppression and that's no fun. Tri Met of course couldn't present these photos because they have to depict a safe history where we all got along and where we all had access. They can do this by not having reminders of how cruel Oregonians were to people of more color. I wish there was a nicer more polite way to say that. Tri Met isn't to blame for not showing minorities in their campaign because not all minorities want the reminder either. From my perspective though, I think it is kind of sad that to feel safe we can't show folks of more color.
I used the Oregon Historical Society's research library for all images.
Part of a group show It Takes a Village
How is it that we portray history in a way that makes us feel safe and doesn't open up old misgivings? Usually by leaving out the history of those who were subject to oppression. Of course it's common place to discuss "a people's history" that tells the story of those not as victorious and we then demonize the victor for being racist, classist, sexist, etc. It's easy to do so from our vantage with hindsight bias acting as our liaison between our history and our own stories, in turn making questions of the -isms and ists seem as if we've already covered the topics. We look to the Red States, the rural, the South as our new touchstone for our own oppression and that's no fun. Tri Met of course couldn't present these photos because they have to depict a safe history where we all got along and where we all had access. They can do this by not having reminders of how cruel Oregonians were to people of more color. I wish there was a nicer more polite way to say that. Tri Met isn't to blame for not showing minorities in their campaign because not all minorities want the reminder either. From my perspective though, I think it is kind of sad that to feel safe we can't show folks of more color.
I used the Oregon Historical Society's research library for all images.