Becoming a Central Home for Totem Star, Red Eagle Soaring, The Rhapsody Project, Whipsmart, and Jackson Street Music Program
by Vee Hua 華婷婷
On the border of Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District sits King Street Station, a historic train station constructed between 1904 and 1906. Yet prior to colonization and the forced regrading of Seattle, the location was known to local Native American tribes as dzee-dzee-LAH-letch in Lushootseed, orthe “little crossing-over place.” It was a tidal marsh — plentiful with flounder — adjacent to Coast Salish longhouses on Yesler Way and surrounded by trails where Native Americans from numerous thougvillages fished and intersected with one another.
The timing could not be more relevant for the current show at King Street Station. Political forces across the U.S. are criminalizing reproductive health care and gender-affirming support for trans youth. This year already, according to NBC News in March, state legislators around the U.S. have introduced a record 238 bills limiting the rights of LGBTQI people and 500 measures restricting abortion have been introduced in 40 states. In times like this, art can inspire the hope and community we need.
South Jackson Street’s King Street Station is an iconic landmark for Seattle history as an entry point for Chinese immigrants and Black migrants in the early 1900s. A bustling transit center today, the station is also a lively arts space and gallery hosted by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture — ARTS at King Street Station. The nickname rings true as a warm invitation to its public arts space and for showing some love to underrepresented artists.
