Perspectives
Emery Barnes, Joseph Blake, Linneas Boland-Godbey, David (Daveed) Jacobo, Mariah Harris, Byron Merritt
Portland Art Museum
Through November 13, 2022
Emery Barnes
Solidarity, 2020
Pigment print
© Emery Barnes, courtesy of the artist
Joseph Blake
Untitled, 2020
Pigment print
© Joseph Blake, courtesy of the artist
Who Do You Serve, 2020
Pigment print
© Daveed Jacobo, courtesy of the artist
The Portland Art Museum presents a special exhibition of more than 60 works by local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) photographers made during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Perspectives features work by artists Emery Barnes, Joseph Blake, Linneas Boland-Godbey, David (Daveed) Jacobo, Mariah Harris, and Byron Merritt. The exhibition is coordinated by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., the Portland Art Museum’s Minor White Curator of Photography.
During the summer of 2020, Portland Art Museum staff received requests from community members seeking to preserve the plywood window coverings from downtown businesses that had been painted with memorials to Black people killed by police. A similar appeal arrived via email on June 27, 2020—could the Museum recognize the important work of six Black and Indigenous Portlanders who were photographing the protests? First imagined as an online exhibition, and then as an outdoor installation during the Museum’s pandemic-related closures in 2020 and 2021, Perspectives will now go on view in the Museum’s special exhibition galleries this summer.
More than 15 million people in over 2,500 American cities and towns rallied against racism during the summer of 2020, and protests quickly spread throughout the world. When Portland’s Black Lives Matter protests became a sustained resistance, national and international media descended on Portland, while the city’s own BIPOC photographers recorded what they witnessed for weeks and months on end. Many of these images, posted to social media platforms including Instagram and Twitter, ricocheted around the world and further encouraged the global protest movement against racism.
The six photographers included in Perspectives are at different points in their careers, and their subject matter is wide-ranging. What binds them together is photographic skill and a first-person understanding of racism aimed at African Americans, Indigenous people, and People of Color living in the United States. Biased systems including the racial makeup of newsrooms shape and reinforce perceptions of these communities of color, who are typically depicted and described by white journalists.
“Expanding the range of photographs we view beyond those made by photojournalists and specific image selections made by photo editors, particularly during events that directly relate to communities of color, is critical to a deeper and more complete understanding of situations like the 2020 Portland protests,” says Dr. Julia Dolan.
Daveed Jacobo’s grainy, visceral photographs capture some of the more dangerous moments of the Black Lives Matter protests; Joseph Blake’s drone images remind us of the many thousands of people who united to stand against racism in Portland; Emery Barnes’ pictures point to the risks of protesting in public in an era of sophisticated surveillance systems; Byron Merritt spent weeks making powerful portraits at the Apple Store mural wall; Linnaeus Boland-Godbey reminds us that the protests took place during a bucolic summer infused with deep societal pain and a worldwide pandemic; and Mariah Harris balanced expressions of grief with beauty and solidarity.
“Together, these six photographers move beyond single media images that continue to shape the understanding of this moment in our city’s history, providing depth, nuance, and hope for a more just and equitable future,” says. Dr. Julia Dolan.
Mariah Harris
Untitled, 2020
Pigment print
© Mariah Harris, courtesy of the artist
Untitled, 2020
Pigment print
© Linneas Boland-Godbey, courtesy of the artist
Untitled, 2020
Pigment print
© Byron Merritt, courtesy of the artist
Artists’ StatementIn 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, David (Daveed) Jacobo, Mariah Harris, Byron Merritt
Exhibition organized by the Portland Art Museum and coordinated by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Minor White Curator of Photography.
PORTLAND ART MUSEUM
1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
Perspectives
Portland Art Museum
Jul 16, 2022 – Nov 13, 2022
