What a year we have all been through.
I moved back to my hometown, Portland, Oregon during a pandemic. During a time when this city that I love was being broadcast nightly for the violent protests that were happening in response to the tragic deaths of George Floyd and Breyonna Taylor.
The city was boarded up and sobering quiet with empty high-rises filling the river front.
Within the city that was under siege with itself the boarded up walls became beautiful pieces of street art. Artists had blocks of empty canvas to paint on, and they did. Murals that had a voice to them, that made people notice them were filling up the downtown corridor.
The largest mural was the block where the Apple store is. The plywood barrier around the store became a work of art thanks to muralist Emma Berger, who painted a portrait of George Floyd and the words “I can’t breathe.” Other community members joined in, adding their own messages in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
As the city starts to reopen their doors, after a tumultuous year, the murals are slowly being taken down. The vibrant George Floyd mural surrounding Apple was donated to a nonprofit in hopes of preserving the spirit of 2020’s social and racial justice protests.
There are numerous murals scattered through the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Should they stay up, as a reminder of the year that was like no other? I’m in favor of keeping them up and letting these artists know their voice was heard.
michelle in the wild 