Jim Lommasson, Street Roots 25 Years! + What I Carry
August 22 - November 23
Jim Lommasson, Street Roots 25 Years! + What I Carry
A collaborative photo+writing storytelling project with Portland’s Street Roots Community
August 22 – November 23, 2025
Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97205
503.222.1741
“This innovative project explores the burdens, hopes, and dreams of Portland’s homeless population through cherished items they carry throughout their lives, fostering compassion and understanding in a world often divided. Through compelling storytelling and creative expression, award-winning photographer Jim Lommasson amplifies voices from Portland’s homeless community, addressing themes of mental health, addiction, housing, personal growth, family dynamics and illuminates the resilience and humanity behind each object – and the person carrying it. This project resonates deeply for me, spreading a message of shared humanity and the healing power of empathy.”
– John Lewis
To see more work from What I Carry:
https://us5.campaign-archive.c…
To see What I Carry: Voices from the Street:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?…
Jim Lommasson is a freelance photographer and storyteller based in Portland. Lommasson is a recipient of the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Lommasson’s ongoing collaborative storytelling projects: What We Carried: Fragments and Memories from the Cradle of Civilization with Iraqi and Syrian refugees was exhibited at the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration in 2018. Stories of Survival and Remembrance: A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention was exhibited at the United Nations Headquarters in 2023.
Jim Lommasson | Photographer | 2405 NW Thurman Street | Portland, OR | 97210 | 503.939.1939
Projects:
What We Carried: (storytelling projects with refugees and genocide survivors).
https://lommasson-resume.blogs…
What I Carry: A collaborative photo+writing storytelling project with Portland’s Street Community