What We Treasure:
Stories from Yesler Terrace

Art Circle /
Rachel Brumer
Pat Graney
Devon Midori Hale
Rachel Kessler
George Lee
DK Pan

October 05 – 28, 2017
Reception / Thursday, October 05, 6–8pm

Built in 1941 as the nation’s first racially integrated community, Yesler Terrace was the brainchild of visionary Jesse Epstein, the first Executive Director of Seattle Housing Authority and Irene Burns Miller, the relocation supervisor for people living on Profanity Hill.

Yesler Terrace’s historic housing complex is undergoing dramatic transition. Together, Artists-in-Residence and community members created artwork focusing on the gravitational pull of “home.” Working with elders and youth from East Africa, Vietnam, China, Mexico, and the Central District, artists held workshops, hosted celebrations, visited homes, and made artwork with the community.

What We Treasure explores the origins of Yesler Terrace and surrounding communities. The installation incorporates portrait photography, fabric collages, castings, ink portraits, original Yesler Terrace architectural plans, and stories collected from area residents, showing the layered histories that have created and defined the area known as Yesler Terrace.

“Yesler Terrace was a cradle for me. I felt safe there.
It’s a place where I learned to believe in myself.”
– former resident Jean Harris, Anthropology Professor

THE ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAM WAS FUNDED BY A GRANT TO SEATTLE HOUSING AUTHORITY FROM THE KRESGE FOUNDATION.

Download multilingual PDF about the exhibition (Chinese/Spanish/Amharic/Vietnamese)