Jumbo’s Cabin

Jumbo’s Cabin, 2018, risograph printed by Moniker Press, 8.0” x 5.0”

In 1888 Cumberland, British Columbia was rich with the natural resources of coal. Chinese workers were brought in by the Dunsmuir family (Union Colliery Company) to build and then work in the mines and to build the Wellington Colliery Railway to transport the coal to the seaport of Union Bay as a result Chinese labourers were employed. The Chinese were assigned swampy wetland just outside mine #2; they dredged it and built their businesses and homes: Chinatown. From 1888-1968 Cumberland’s Chinatown was a vibrant, thriving community. This book depicts the last citizen of Cumberland’s Chinatown, Hor Sue Mah aka Jumbo, and the last existing structure, his cabin. In the fall of 2017, I was awarded the post-residency alumni award from the Banff Centre. I used the award to fund the printing and making of Jumbo’s Cabin, a book about a once thriving Chinese community in Cumberland, BC. The book launched at my solo exhibit, Cold, Gold & War, at Campbell River Art Gallery in May 2018.

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