Rich Bergeman, The Land Remembers

Jan. 14, 2020 – Feb. 28, 2020
Opening reception Friday, Feb. 7, 5 – 8pm

Central Gallery
Chehalem Cultural Center
415 E. Sheridan St.
Newberg, OR 97132
https://www.chehalemculturalcenter.org/
503-487-6883
Open Tues-Sat 9am – 6pm

“The Land Remembers” features 35 black-and-white infrared photographs by Corvallis photographer Rich Bergeman that revisit the terrain of Southern Oregon’s Rogue River Wars of 1851-56.

Bergeman said the goal of his two-year project was “to bring the historic conflict back into our collective consciousness through a reflective study of the landscapes that played host to those tragic events over 160 years ago.”

Despite being one of the bloodiest and longest-running of Oregon’s Indian conflicts, the Rogue River Wars are largely forgotten today. Fighting between local tribes and incoming miners and settlers festered and flared up multiple times between 1851 and 1854 before erupting into all-out war involving the U.S. Army in 1855-56. It ended with the forced removal of the Rogue Valley and the South Coast tribes to reservations at Siletz and Grand Ronde in what descendants today memorialize as Oregon’s own “Trail of Tears.”
During the reception on Feb. 7, Grand Ronde tribal member Joseph Ham will perform a song he’s written about the wars.

An Oregonian since 1976, Bergeman is a retired instructor of journalism and photography at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany. The 70-year-old photographer has been exhibiting his work throughout the since the 1980s. Over the past two decades he has focused primarily on portraying forgotten Northwest histories through photographs of what’s been left behind.

His portfolios can be seen at richbergeman.zenfolio.com, and in book form at blurb.com