What We
Believe
We believe in shining light on regional rail labor history that amplifies the contribution and community creation of migrant and immigrant laborers.
We believe in the transformative power of storytelling.
We believe in co-creativity and cross-cultural conversations that build on community strengths while elevating and restoring erased historical narratives.
We believe that art is critical to how we understand, experience, and imagine the past, present, and future.
Amplify a long and ongoing history of immigrant contribution to the state of Wyoming.
Support communities along the I-80 corridor as they engage with and celebrate their rail labor history.
Share the complex stories of Wyoming with each other — and with a wider audience beyond the state.
Explore how individual life histories connect to the broader cultural and historical dynamics of Wyoming.
Connect with individuals and organizations doing similar commemorative work — and build in cooperation and partnership.
How We Work
Process matters as much as outcomes
How we do this work is inseparable from what the work means. Care, reciprocity, and accountability are built into every step.
Think beyond the rails
We acknowledge the peoples and environments that were here first — and hold the railroad's history alongside the displacement that made it possible.
Give storytellers agency
Nothing about us, without us. Communities are co-authors of this project, not subjects. Participation is always on their terms.
Build community as a team and a town
High Iron is a collective endeavor. We invest in the relationships between collaborators as much as in the product they create together.
Maintain open, iterative feedback
We don't arrive with fixed answers. The project grows and changes through ongoing conversation with the communities it serves.
Acknowledge economic & historic impact
We name the social, economic, and historic weight of the railroad honestly — including its role in dispossession and the exploitation of labor.