Exhibition Of 60+ PDX 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests This Summer At Portland Art Museum.

Thousands of Portlanders went to the streets in 2020 to protest the murder of George Floyd. They returned for hundreds of nights. Among them were photographers from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. A special exhibit of the work of some of them will open July 16 and run through November 13, 2022 at the Portland Art Museum.

The exhibit, called Perspectives, was curated by Julia Dolan, Ph.D., The Minor White Curator of Photography. The photographers are at varying stages of their careers and their eyes were drawn to numerous subjects. However, they all share a personal experience with racism, and biased systems in the organizations that select and promote images (art museums, newsrooms, etc.) The artists are Emery Barnes, Joseph Blake, Linneas Boland-Godbey, David (Daveed) Jacobo, Mariah Harris, and Byron Merritt.

You know, it takes generous donations to the Museum’s Exhibition Series and Artist Fund to make exhibitions like these possible. For this display, additional support was provided by the Cheryl Tonkin, Rena Tonkin, & Marv Tonkin Leasing Company, in memory of Alan Baron Tonkin.

Byron Merritt, Untitled, 2020, pigment print, courtesy of the artist, ©Byron Merritt