Vanport Community Painting by Muralist Alex Chiu

This painting was created live by Alex Chiu, a Chinese-American painter, illustrator, and arts educator living in Portland, during one of Vanport Mosaic story circles with the Vanport Community.

From 2017-2020, the Vanport Mosaic hosted a series of story circles with elders from Portland’s historic communities of color to harvest lessons of hope, resistance, and resilience for these times. The gatherings focused on intergenerational exchange, listening, restorative engagement, artful infusion, and building deeper relationships. We worked with visual artists, poets, and musicians who captured the spirit of the conversations.