A couple fascinating photography events are coming up next week at the Portland Art Museum, both of which will involve the documentation of history and its effect on the present day.
On Wednesday, April 18, Jim Lommasson will talk about his emotional still life images and the personal histories of objects brought to America by refugees fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria. His lecture is titled “What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of Civilization,.”
“Lommasson photographs these precious items — family snapshots, an archaeology book, heirloom china dishes, the Quran — on a white background, asking their owners to write directly within the open space left in the prints and elaborate upon each object’s significance,” wrote Zemie Barr of the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts. “The resulting images are as beautiful as they are heartbreaking, providing viewers with only a small glimpse of what each person has lost while serving as a poignant reminder that, as Jim asserts, “we must take responsibility for the aftermath of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as at home.”
The event will be free to the public, in the Fields Ballroom of the Mark building, from noon until 1:00 p.m.
And on April 20, an all-day symposium on Minor White will celebrate the iconic co-founder of Aperture and his formative work in Oregon. Co-organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, the symposium will bring together “curators, art historians, artists, and archivists from around the country for a free, day-long discussion about White’s early photographic work in Oregon, his influences, and his legacy.”
The event will be live-streamed on the museum’s YouTube channel for those unable to attend.