Jim Lommasson, What I Carry: A collaborative photo+writing storytelling project with Portland’s Street Community

OPEN/CLOSE: January 18 – March 15, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 18, 2-4 pm

Multnomah County Central Library Collins Gallery
801 SW 10th Avenue,
Portland, OR 97205
(503) 988-5123
https://multcolib.org/hours-an…

Gallery Hours:
• Monday: 10 am-6 pm
• Tuesday: 12 pm-8 pm
• Wednesday: 12 pm-8 pm
• Thursday: 10 am-6 pm
• Friday: 10 am-6 pm
• Saturday: 10 am-6 pm
• Sunday: 12 pm-6 pm
free admission

What I Carry: A collaborative photo+writing storytelling project with Portland’s Street Community.

Since 2010, I have focused my work on collaborative photo+writing projects with communities displaced from their homes and their their homelands.
These projects encompass the stories of refugees, genocide, and Holocaust survivors who bear the burdens of the diaspora.

My “What We Carried” projects explore themes of departure and the enduring impact it leaves behind.

Each project deepens my connection with the communities with whom I collaborate. “what i carry” focuses on Portland’s un-housed community.
This project with members of our community aims to remind us that any of us could find ourselves in need of shelter should one or two circumstances in our lives shift.

Through this process of personal storytelling with object/photographs with the participants’ handwriting, giving voice to the those who are rarely heard we aspire to build a sense of community and remind us that we are all one family.

It’s been said that my What We Carried projects “humanize” the refugee.

But it’s not the refugee (or the homeless person) that needs to be humanized,

…it is us.
– Jim Lommasson

https://lommasson-resume.blogs…

Thank You RACC + Street Roots Community + Multnomah County Central Library + PLACE