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Over the past 25 years, the nonprofit and weekly newspaper Street Roots has made a name for itself as a trusted voice reporting on homelessness and poverty, as well as publishing writings by its vendors.
On Aug. 15, that legacy will be celebrated with a grand opening of a Street Roots’ archival art show, featuring a collection of historical items relating to the paper and its vendors. Hosted and curated by Kamp Grizzly, a creative agency based in Portland, the show will run through September in Kamp Grizzly’s Kamp Gallery.
“We dug through their basement and found piles and piles of work left over from volunteers, and vendors, and employees, and the greater Street Roots community,” says Ross Morell, the curator and manager of Kamp Gallery. “The show is an archive celebrating the past, the present, and the future of Street Roots.”
Street Roots sells papers to its vendors for 25 cents each, then the papers are sold to the public for $1, allowing vendors to keep the profit. Street Roots works with over 800 of these vendors every year, according to its website.
Over the years, Street Roots’ headquarters has been filled with gifts from the community, gifts that have been rediscovered in light of the upcoming exhibit. Street Roots is also currently undergoing a relocation to a larger office, which has assisted with the allocation of once forgotten objects.
“It’s a lot of items that may seem completely regular or banal, but to the person carrying them and then eventually gifting them, they’re extremely important,” Morell says.
Artwork created by past vendors, vintage signage used to promote the paper, past issues, and gift donations of all sorts and sizes will be on display. One notable item is a bouquet of paper roses used for a past vendor’s wedding at the Street Roots office.
Work by local photographers Gloria Baker Feinstein and Jim Lommasson will also be on display, highlighting the Street Roots and Portland homeless communities. Feinstein’s photos are portraits of Street Roots’ vendors, while Lommasson’s work highlights the broader homeless community, featuring photos from “What We Carried,” a series depicting items of important personal significance. Lommasson makes prints of these photos and has his subjects write stories relating to the objects on the prints. These photos, along with their stories, will be displayed at the gallery.
The Street Roots’ 25th Anniversary show’s official gallery opening will be musically accompanied by 8ulentina, an ambient artist.
The exhibition works to portray the often underrepresented everyday lives of homeless people, and will do so by highlighting possessions that members of the homeless community hold dear. “It’s about an elevation through emotion of everyday items,” Morell says.
SEE IT: Street Roots’ 25th Anniversary Archive Art Show gallery opening at Kamp Gallery, 2316 NE Oregon St., 503-228-9440, kampgrizzly.com. 6–9 pm Thursday, Aug. 15. Free. All ages.