Sort of an exhibit

As part of Black History Month, Teressa Raiford and her organization, Don’t Shoot PDX, were invited to offer photos of their history at my absolute favorite photographic gallery in Portland. While a great many photographers have shown up for her protests and rallies in support of  Black Lives, including professional news photographers, I have been with her since the beginning, and she asked me to select twenty photos for the display. She didn’t want the show to be about her, so she asked me to choose group shots and cityscapes. Today we collected the prints, and she and her daughter will put them in protective sheets with cardboard backing for the show that opens Feb. 6.

I’m hugely honored. In the early years I was making photos for social media, so I was not making high-res images. Of course I could have made high-res and reduced them, but I didn't understand all that at the time. Back then social media was the way to boost Black voices; now all that has changed, as social media is being used for surveillance. She and I were both disappointed to find that some of my best images before 2018 cannot be printed larger than 8x12 in. We’re going with what we have. 

The images will be on a “community wall,” not in the gallery proper, but I’m happy to be associated with Blue Sky Gallery. If you go to the link, scroll down to the bottom and there I am. Teressa wanted to use Dr (for my PhD in theatre) with my full name. Not something I normally even mention, but I'm touched by her choice to acknowledge my long life and its various facets.