Medium of choice: I dabble in many things, but right now, I’d classify my focus as social art, community art, and placemaking. In these pictures, we’re standing in front of the Alberta Free Hutch, we have been running for a couple of years. This used to be an active space for free boxing, and then it went through a few phases and became the AFH. There have been so many changes on Alberta, it rests on land stolen from Native folks, and is one of many Portland streets with a history of displacing Black folks. We wanted to make sure that this brightly colored free-stuff space existed to juxtapose the expensive, bland cream-color-with-airplants trend taking over Portland. My main goal has been to ensure people of color and low income folks in the neighborhood have a place that they know they’re cared for, and can get their needs met. Interestingly, the more affluent the community becomes, the more unusable items people dispose of in here, and the more it gets abused. It seems like when more people who have less use the space (especially femme-aligned folks and poc), we see more people inclined to tidy when they take, and give things that are special- it feels like more personal gifts. It tells me that they understand it’s people powered, and that there are humans on the receiving end. When the neighborhood gets new, more affluent neighbors, we get a peculiar mix of some VERY nice stuff, and way more unusable stuff (I really don’t understand who thought that their un-scooped kitty litter was a nice gift). It sends a message that maybe people think it’s run by magic… And in a way, it is! But it’s people-powered magic. We’ve recently taken it down, as it’s been an awesome learning experience (public exhibit, even?), but it wouldn’t be sustainable for us to do forever. Next, we’ll be focusing on POC led creative reuse workshops. We’re hoping to get that happening by the end of this year. I do more traditional art too, but I’ve made a point of burning all of my portfolios.

Tell us about one of your favorite Portland memories: This is actually my second time moving here, but it feels like I lived each of those parts of my life in 2 different cities. The first time, I was coming out of houselessness, and surrounded by lots of very thoughtful and helpful white people, and it was hard (even though I met a few of gems). I felt tokenized, and like I was a pet project to someone because I was poor, brown, and had enough trauma to go around. Moving back the second time, I was coming out of houselessness again (hashtag oops), but this time able to settle quicker and find community of color. I’m still blissed out from how much I love my community here. The moment where first I walked into a room of all POC creatives and a table of homemade food… I still haven’t come down from that moment. Every time I think of it, my life gets a year longer.