The Occupy Portraits: A Photo Essay

Portland, oregon 15-16 January 2012 Up all night before my flight finishing jobs so I could leave the city for three weeks. Left the house at four in the morning for the Los Angeles airport. Plenty of time to argue with security about hand-checking my film, as usual. Time enough to grab a quick tea and oatmeal at the kiosk directly across frommy departure gate, except that when I went to board along with the rest of the passengers they’d given my seat away. Though I already had my boarding pass in hand they still sorry-but-company-ruled me. Six hours later I finally arrived, just in time for Portland’s first day of snow in two years. I missed the 12-3 Occupy Portland meeting at the court house square entitled “Whose Living Room.” Old time friend Alex Lilly, an artist and lifelong activist, greeted me and we rode the train to his newest project - converting a winter cold 3 story fish-packing warehouse into artist lofts with his own two hands. Inside a gallery installation of his murals on canvas...vivid orange against blue emerging from ominous black...the painfully gorgeous colors of war . ..fields of exploding oil tankers in Iraq. In the kitchen a small table with an electric hotplate, a deep in- dustrial sink and a life size full-length portrait of a figure engulfed in the dark seductive reds of flames - a memorial honoring a man named Muhammed – the fruit and vegetable vender from Tunisia, whose final expression of futility towards his unfair government began the pro- tests of the Arab Spring a year ago this month. I rested for a few hours and then we walked through the nighttime snow to another artist’s loft where a few Occupy activists had gathered so I could make their portraits. Then some sleep and a lot of shivering as my body tried to adjust to the frozen cold weather. In the morn- ing we marched 500 strong through the streets for the Martin Luther King protests and rallies and speeches addressing the theme this year - “No One is Illegal.” Portraits of the Occupy activists on the steps of city hall, and then to the new Occupy office space being rented from a church. Warm and spacious with couches and desks and tables and chairs and a steady flow of people all afternoon discussing and planning and writing and reading and napping and laughing and organizing all the while long. A long day for me filled with the intimate con- versations and exchanges through the many portraits of strong individuals dedicated to the hard work necessary to change the unfair policies and unjust priorities plaguing the planet. The sun is coming up over the grandiose view from my frozen cold wall of windows over- looking downtown Portland in the mist. The snow falls steadily, straight down streams, then suddenly slants left from a breeze. A lone bird wings quickly by. Soon the two-hour train to Olympia for more blizzard conditions and the warmth of dear friends.