In this lecture, Professor Zhi Lin explores how cycles of hostility toward Chinese Americans reverberate throughout U.S. history, using his powerful handscroll project, featured in Finding Home: The Chinese American West, as a lens. This work responds to the 1885 Tacoma expulsion, when the city forcibly removed its entire Chinese immigrant community.
Lin’s research traces the journey of 19th-century Chinese immigrants, highlighting their vital role in building the nation and the violence and exclusion they faced during the height of anti-Chinese sentiment. Through art and scholarship, Lin connects these historical injustices to the resurgence of anti-Chinese attitudes today, revealing how the past continues to shape the present.
Zhi Lin is a Professor of Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking at the University of Washington’s School of Art + Art History + Design.