Rich Bergeman, The Land Remembers: Photographs Inspired by the Rogue River Wars

Sept. 26 – Oct. 27, 2022
Closing Reception and Gallery Talk Thursday Oct. 27, 1-3pm

The Art Gallery
Umpqua Community College
1140 Umpqua College Road
Roseburg, Oregon 97470
www.umpqua.edu
800-820-5161
Open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm

An exhibit of photographs that explore the landscapes of Southern Oregon’s 1850s Rogue River Indian Wars will be on display at The Art Gallery at Umpqua Community College Sept. 27 to Oct. 26.

Titled “The Land Remembers,” the exhibit features more than 20 black-and-white infrared prints by Corvallis photographer Rich Bergeman, along with his research into one of the least remembered and yet bloodiest Indian conflicts in the Oregon Territory.

Bergeman said the goal of his project was “to bring the largely forgotten war back into our collective consciousness through a reflective study of the landscapes that played host to those tragic events.”

The various tribes who populated the southwest corner of what is now Oregon saw their homelands suddenly invaded in 1850 following passage of the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act and the nearly simultaneous discovery of gold in the region. Settlers and miners streamed in, leading to conflict with local tribes. Skirmishes flared up multiple times between 1851 and 1854, eventually erupting into all-out war involving the U.S. Army. It ended with the forced removal of the Rogue Valley and South Coast tribes to reservations at Siletz and Grand Ronde in 1856 in what descendants today memorialize as Oregon’s own “Trail of Tears.”

An Oregonian since 1976, Bergeman is a retired instructor of journalism and photography at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany. The 73-year-old photographer has been exhibiting his work throughout the Northwest 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