“History Is Now” Exhibit Comes to the North Park Blocks

From: Portland Monthly: Vacant Portland Storefronts Become Canvases for New History Exhibit

History Is Now, part of the sixth Vanport Mosaic Festival, tells Oregon’s history through the voices of its underrepresented and marginalized communities. See Vanport Mosaic Schedule

Throughout the month of June 2021, the vacant store front windows of the North Park Blocks will be used to showcase 65 displays depicting Oregon’s true history through the voices of its underrepresented and marginalized communities.

“The vision is to tell the stories of lives and futures that have been stolen, or taken by systemic injustice,” says Karim Hassanein, who worked on the event, called History Is Now.

Hassanein, a designer from Design As Protest—a group of designers working to hold their industry accountable for the harms they’ve caused to Black communities— worked closely with Laura Lo Forti of Vanport Mosaic to put together the installations as part of the sixth  annual Vanport Mosaic Festival, partnering with a slew of other organizations across town, including The Immigrant Story, Oregon Historical Society, and Five Oaks Museum.

All month long, viewers walking by the store fronts can read the stories of various groups that built Portland and have typically been removed from the historical narrative. Each display consists of three by six feet boards and tells a different story of the various experiences faced by these communities—immigrants, Japanese Americans, and early Black Oregon residents—placing them all in conversation with each other. ~ More at Portland Monthly