The Other Side of The Tracks

November 9, 2024 – February 8, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, November 9 | 6-8pm

In 2019, in cities across the country, the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad was celebrated with a great deal of fanfare. There is another story that must be told.

The histories unaccounted for in our best-known tales of the train—the men, women, and communities transformed but ignored in the dominant narrative of the engine and the nation it built. It is their stories of the tracks that still wait to be told. The Other Side of the Tracks, a traveling exhibition, features the work of nine national and internationally recognized contemporary artists who come from these communities, their voices excluded from the triumphal tales of the track. This approach challenges the traditional narrative about trains and promotes a more inclusive and accurate view of the subject. The work of the Native American, African American, Chinese American, and Mexican art-makers in this exhibition creates a powerful vision of the railway from a perspective Americans have rarely experienced before. Additionally, the research component, which included a journey by train the participating artists took together, visiting towns and cities built by the railway, was both innovative and critical to the evolution of the artwork in the exhibition.

As a new generation of faster trains emerges, we must think critically about the history of our railways: who they have served, who they’ve neglected, and who they have hurt. The power that trains have to move and inspire us is still strong, but if we are to build a more equitable future, we must make a more concerted effort to clearly see our past. Curated by Jorge Rojas, Other Side of The Tracks features national and regional artists Tania Candiani, Raven Chacon, Gregg Deal, Guillermo Galindo, Zhi Lin, Caroline Liu, Paisley Rekdal, Xaviera Simmons, and Chip Thomas.
 

The resulting video is included in the exhibition and accompanying publication. Ultimately, The Other Side of the Tracks exhibition presents an imaginative new understanding of the locomotive through the eyes of artists from historically marginalized communities.

Press: Southwest Contemporary, Artists Ride, and Reframe, the U.S. Railroad in The Other Side of the Tracks, by Ana Estrada

THANK YOU TO OUR EXHIBITION SPONSORS

The exhibition was created in collaboration with Ogden Contemporary Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah, and RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, Colorado.