Shared Lines is planned as a traveling art exhibition with the focus on Chicago as the first stop. Yuen’s detailed line drawings successfully capture the character of buildings from the historically old and new including Pui Tak Center, built in 1928 serving the Chinatown community; Ping Tom Memorial Park providing much needed sports, recreational, and open space; the symbolic Nine Dragon Wall, one of four that exists outside of Beijing; CAMOC, the only Chinese American museum in the Midwest; and the exceptional Chinatown Branch of the Chicago Public Library. Illustrations in other cities that Yuen selected include: the Union Depot in Tulsa, OK, where Filipinos and African Americans unionized; the Milk Bottle Grocery Store in Oklahoma City, OK, where Vietnamese immigrated after the Vietnam War; and the Water Tower in Kingman, AZ, where many Chinese railroad workers settled in the 1880s. Yuen received support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve AAPI stories along the iconic 2,400 mile all-weather highway that stretches across eight states, and was the first to connect the Midwest to California.
Enacted by Congress in 2020, Public Law 116-256 states, “Route 66 has become a symbol of the heritage of travel and the legacy of seeking a better life shared by the people of the United States.” The Route 66 Commission was formed to recommend activities in celebration of the Mother Road.
Meet the Artist
