Excavating (Hi)Stories: East of 82nd

Excavating (Hi)Stories: East of 82nd
Date: 2017
Location: Jade/APANO Multicultural Space, East Portland
Collaborators: Sabina Haque, Madison High and Portland Community College students

Sabina Haque planned to re-install parts of my recent show Annexation & Assimilation, an art exhibition on how East Portland was born, in the Jade/APANO Multicultural Space (JAMS) and extend the show to include new community partners and stakeholders. The programming included bringing students from Madison High School and Portland Community College to JAMS to do round table discussions and create their own (hi)story documents, writing, and art to complement the show and create a handmade zine that will be published and distributed in the neighborhood. Sabina also used translators and interpreters to include those for whom English is not their language of origin or choice to encourage engagement with communities who live, study and work in the neighborhoods around 82nd Ave. In doing so, Sabina hoped to excavate stories from those communities not typically found in official records, and engage youth to ‘re-curate’ and enhance the official archive.