Existing comment:
Chinese in Idaho, Portrait IV, 2004
Dangling, 2005
Chinese in Idaho, Portrait II, 2004
During the late 1800s, many Chinese immigrants arrived in the western United States as enslaved people or servants. Others came to search for gold or work on the railroad. Despite their significant contributions to the country, these individuals were policed by anti-Chinese and anti-Asian laws, which were not overturned until 1943. The population of Chinese in the Territory of Idaho was fairly large in the 1870s but had nearly vanished when Liu began her "Chinese in
Idaho" series.
These three paintings are reinterpretations of black-and-white photographs from the life of Polly Bemis (1853–1933), the subject of Dangling. Bemis, who was smuggled into the United States and sold into the slave trade at age nineteen, escaped anti-Chinese immigration tactics when she married an American man. She eventually ran a boarding house, among other businesses, on a ranch near the Salmon River, where she was beloved by her community.
Oil on canvas
Castellano-Wood Family Collection |