Welcome to the Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection Gallery.
The Chung | Lind Gallery is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.
The photographs, books, artworks, letters and other materials on display offer an opportunity to gain knowledge and insight about diverse people who lived through, and created their own histories. In turn, your understanding of these materials will be uniquely shaped by your own history, identity, and experiences.
For Dr. Wallace B. Chung, an intricate steamship model represents the broader experience of the Chinese diaspora, and the story of his own mother’s immigration from China to Canada; for Phil Lind, a gold nugget evokes family lore of his Grandfather’s perseverance and prosperity, and the amazing history of one of the largest gold rushes in history. For another person, these same objects might carry other meanings, and relate to different personal histories. As you interact with these materials on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm land, we invite you to also consider how these objects are tied to a history of colonization.
Part of this colonial history includes records, like some of those on display, used to justify forms of violence, such as the residential school system, the occupation of Indigenous lands, and the persistent, structural marginalization of Indigenous, Black, and Peoples of Colour.
Many of these records reflect a white, colonial perspective that did not value the lived experience of IBPOC peoples, and excluded meaningful contextual information, such as the names of Indigenous Peoples, their communities and Nations. While working towards reconciliation, we seek to collaborate on respectful access to and description of these materials.
By sharing these histories, we hope to build relationships based on transparency and reciprocity, allowing for a decolonial understanding of the past, one which is more complete, nuanced, complicated, and rich. We hope the Chung | Lind Gallery, situated on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm land, provides a space to consider what it means to share histories with respect and care.