Perspectives

2022

In Summer 2022, the Portland Art Museum presents a special exhibition of more than 60 works by local BIPOC photographers made during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Artists Emery Barnes, Joseph Blake, Linneas Boland-Godbey, Daveed Jacobo, Mariah Harris, and Byron Merritt share their perspectives and purpose in this exhibition:

In solidarity with the national response to George Floyd’s murder during the late Spring of 2020, Portlanders were called to show up for Black lives and dismantle white supremacy—inherently perpetuated by our conventional systems and institutions that for centuries worked against Black human beings.

Through the growing pains of organizing and sustaining hundreds of direct community action events, the fire in Portland never ceased to burn. The fire that fueled righteous rage and passion in the hearts of those who participated, bore witness, and were inspired to make change.

Captured here are various moments during the 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests through the eyes of local BIPOC Artists in Portland, Oregon.

We ask that you follow along this journey, relive these moments, listen to the stories shared, and open yourself up to the perspectives represented.

There is a great transformation underway, and it is never too late to be on the correct side of history. Together in this mass realignment, we uplift the values of our cause and the people for whom we stand up—Black human beings.

—Emery Barnes, Joseph Blake, Linneas Boland-Godbey, Daveed Jacobo, Mariah Harris, Byron Merritt,

Organized by the Portland Art Museum and curated by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Minor White Curator of Photography. Generous donations to the Museum’s Exhibition Series and Artist Fund make exhibitions like these possible. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by the McGeady Family Foundation and Rena and Cheryl Tonkin in memory of Alan Baron Tonkin.

Curated by Julia Dolan