The Forgotten History of Chinese Railroad Workers Rises From the Texas Dust

His preoccupation with how male bodies “perform within certain rituals and coded activities” was inspired by female artists like Marina Abramovic, Adrian Piper and Patty Chang, who questioned value systems around gender. He said he was less interested in following the male bravado of  performance artists like Chris Burden, who had himself shot for the sake of art, and Vito Acconci.

“Artists like Burden and Acconci were always testing the limits of what a body could endure,” Tam said. “I felt like I could never do that kind of work, because I never thought of myself as wanting to prove anything through my own adversity.”

This adversity is reflected in the cowboy artworks, which were made against the backdrop of Covid-19. Tam’s own experiences with fighting anti-Asian discrimination during the pandemic — when leaders like former President Donald J. Trump called Covid-19 the “Chinese virus” — drove him to think more deeply about his own identity. During a surge in violence against Asian Americans last year, he helped found Stop DiscriminAsian, a coalition of artists and cultural workers using their skills to raise awareness and prevent racial hatred.

Young Chung, a dealer representing Tam through the Los Angeles gallery Commonwealth and Council, said the artist’s shy personality belies the gutsy risks he takes. “Within his own work, he becomes a visual marker of difference needing to be engaged.” According to the gallery, the majority of Tam’s buyers are museums. Videos have a smaller market than other mediums, so the artist supplements his income with teaching gigs. Recently, he became an assistant professor in the visual and dramatic arts department at Rice University in Houston.

And now that he calls Texas home, Tam feels a responsibility to help ensure that the full story of how the Chinese railroad workers is told.

“It’s not just a simple question of representation and reinserting these Chinese immigrants back into the Western narrative,” Tam said. “It’s not about filling the void, but making the void felt.”

Tender is the hand which holds the stone of memory

Through May 7, Ballroom Marfa, 108 East San Antonio Street, Marfa, Texas; ballroommarfa.org.