O82 Art Crew

O82 Art Crew

Date: 2020 - present

Location: Orchards of 82nd, East Portland

Collaborators: Lillyanne Pham, Grace Kwon, Alisa Chen, Jose Camara, Shelbie Loomis, Justin Maxon, and Roshani Thakore

APANO organizes the O82 Art Crew at Orchards of 82nd (O82), a mixed-used affordable apartment building co-owned by APANO and ROSE Community Development Corporation (CDC). The Crew was formed out of the recommendations from community members and neighbors through the Orchards of 82nd Art Plan, Living Culture: Past, Present, and Future, produced by Cultural Work Coordinator, Roshani Thakore. The Crew has slowly been developing during a global pandemic in early 2020.

The goal of the Crew is to create a collaborative and intentional space that considers the question of how art and culture can be integrated into daily life. The primary site the Crew uses is the O82 lobby for exhibitions. Other sites include APANO restrooms, the playground, plaza, hallways in the building, social media, and the internet. Research, engagement, and production are the main areas of practice for the Crew.

Lillyanne Pham, former Cultural Work Intern, is the Lead Artist of the Committee. In March 2021, the Crew expanded its members to include students from PSU’s Art + Social Practice MFA Program. As a mixed-race group, the Committee centers the experiences, wants, and needs of API, BIPOC, residents and neighbors of O82 and values the volunteer efforts from the White Allies and Partners. The Crew is committed to long-term work because of the importance of stability and dependability working with populations who have been intentionally disenfranchised. That said, the goal is to distribute labor and tasks, and to work together consistently at 2 hours per week.

The exhibitions and projects produced by the Crew centers the issues and topics that matter the most to the site and context of O82. The goal is to produce 3 - 4 exhibitions per year with engagement and involvement from residents, neighbors, and community members. Previous exhibitions include a partnership with Five Oaks Museum on This IS Kalapuyan Land, focusing on Indigenous history, and We Are Still Here, an exhibition featuring work by currently and formerly incarcerated artists in partnership with Rosewood Initiative, Black and Pink PDX, All Rise Magazine, Liberation Literacy, and Black Community of Portland, and I Am Home.., a portrait exhibition featuring residents of Orchards of 82nd.

You can download a PDF of the O82 Art Crew zine here.

The O82 Art Crew is supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Oregon Community Foundation, and Oregon Cultural Trust.