the city as a gallery

'black pride' on alberta street and 17th avenue, painted by lewis harris in 1984.

i wound up working new year's eve day. somehow, sort of miraculously, i was left off of daily news coverage and handed over to our features department. hoping to avoid writing about country music-singing brothers, i pitched a story about african american murals in portland. that a local history club is releasing a book about the murals was my news peg. anyhow, i went on a small, four-mural tour before writing my story. these are some of the photos from that morning. (as it turns out, it's sort of hard to take good pictures of murals.) here's how the story starts out:

Isaka Shamsud-Din doesn't like driving south on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It's not the whole stretch that bothers him, it's just where that long drag meets Shaver Street, where his 21-year-old mural "Now is the Time, the Time is Now" comes into view.

What was once a bright, freshly painted tribute to the ideals of African American education, self-knowledge and history has faded over the years. People have written their names across the piece. There's a swastika underneath the central visage of Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's hard to drive down that street," he says. "It feels terrible. It feels hideous. It's an insult, the condition.

"It's a kick in the head, anyway."

If you know where to look, Portland is an art gallery. And somewhere amid this miles-wide showroom is a collection of African American mural art. But there's no glass or alarms to protect what artists have made here; no guards to tell people not to touch. So, while bits have survived, some have been defaced and others have been torn down in the name of development.

you can read the rest here. the story is a really interesting one and one that deserves many thousands of words. of course, that would take more space and time than the paper or i could offer.


'now is the time, the time is now' on northeast mlk jr. boulevard and shaver street, painted by isaka shamsud-din in 1989.


a mural painted by adriene cruz in the late 90s. she drew from her background in tapestry and fiber arts.


human diversity on mlk jr. blvd. and monroe street, painted by judy madden bryant and high school students in 1993.


'human diversity' from another angle.