Dismantling the House: Programs on Power

…the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those (…) who still define the master’s house as their only source of support. – Audre Lorde, 1979

In the face of a global pandemic, an escalating climate crisis and a social uprising – governments, corporations, and society’s various institutions have wielded their authority forcefully and with little compromise. Abuses of power have seeped into every aspect of our lives—from financial stability, physical and mental health, and personal safety to our social well-being, sovereignty, and sense of hope. Yet, while felt more acutely in 2020, for many the impact of these crises has persisted for decades – an escalation of ongoing challenges. As we watch capitalist considerations further risk and control the safety and welfare of individuals worldwide, it is evermore clear that our society must unlearn its ways.

The series of programs Dismantling the House presents the ways in which the dominance asserted by those holding onto power has been felt continuously by communities across generations and geographies.  The participating artists look inwards to their experiences, outwards to our collective practices, back to historical precedents and forward to visions of culture unraveling itself. The programs propose ways of viewing and claiming agency over our present so that new strategies, systems and infrastructures can take form.

— Yaelle S. Amir, 2020-21 Curator-in-Residence

These programs are made possible by the Ford Family Foundation.

Jea Alford is an interdisciplinary artist playing with themes of class, labor, the role of aesthetics in economy, and the role of economy in the artist’s studio. Growing up in a trailer park in suburban Oregon, she developed a critical eye toward what our economic system values, and she is interested in how art can work to not only subvert, but regrow the existing structures of economy. She creates ephemeral and poetic performative work, objects, and media, co-runs a sustainably-minded clothing cooperative, and has stewarded projects, such as an artist residency run out of her home, that are based in generosity. She is an adjunct instructor in both the Theater and Studio Art departments at Portland State University. Jea is a Fulbright recipient, winner of the Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Prize, and recipient of grants from OAC and RACC to support participation in residencies and exhibitions domestically and internationally.

Ariana Jacob makes artwork that uses conversation to explore political and personal interdependence and disconnection. Prior to working as an artist and academic Ariana managed a farmers market, worked in a cabinet shop, co-ran a secret cafe out of her apartment, and fished for salmon commercially. While being an artist and academic Ariana also does union organizing and group facilitation, alongside being a partner, friend, family member and wonderer. Ariana currently teaches in the Social Practice MFA Program at Portland State University and is the Chair of Bargaining for PSUFA Adjunct Faculty Union. Her work has been included in the NW Biennial at the Tacoma Art Museum, Disjecta’s Portland 2012 Biennial, the Open Engagement Conference, the Discourse and Discord Symposium at the Walker Art Center. She has exhibited work and organized events at apexart and Smack Mellon in New York City, Betonsalon in Paris, France, Broken City Lab in Windsor, ON, Canada, PICA’s TBA Festival, The Portland Art Museum, The Department of Safety in Anacortes, WA, Southern Exposure in San Francisco, CA; and in many public places.

Garrick Imatani is an artist known for presenting nuanced and layered multidisciplinary works that often center ideas around racialized bodies and political histories. His work has been featured multiple times on National Public Radio and presented nationally and internationally in galleries and museums as well as public contexts. Recent exhibitions include Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (Portland, OR), Chachalu Museum and Cultural Center (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, OR), Triumph Gallery (Moscow, Russia), YNKB (Copenhagen, Denmark), Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, Incident Report (Hudson, NY), Art, Design and Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, Portland Museum of Art (Portland, ME), and Ditch Projects (Springfield, OR). He has received grants and awards from The Andy Warhol Foundation, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Maine Arts Commission, Regional Arts & Culture Council and Oregon Percent for Art. He has been an artist-in-residence at Ucross Foundation (Clearmont, WY), Djerassi Resident Artists Program (Woodside, CA), Ragdale (Lake Forest, IL), Signal Fire (Mt. Hood, OR), Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (Nebraska City, NE), and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Skowhegan, ME). Imatani holds an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University and currently resides in Portland, Oregon where he is an Associate Professor of Art and Chair of Foundation at Pacific Northwest College of Art

garima thakur is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in New Delhi. She works with histories, narratives and multitudinous realities and multitudinous of realities of assimilation, alienation and collectivism. She is currently stationed in Portland,OR, and works as an associate professor of interaction media and graphic design at Western Oregon University.

Sharita Towne is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Portland, OR. Born and raised on the West Coast of the U.S. along Interstate 5 from Salem, OR, to Tacoma, WA and down to Sacramento, CA, Sharita is a true granddaughter of the great migration. She is most interested in engaging local and global Black geographies, histories, and possibilities. In her work, a shared art penetrates and binds people–artists, audience, organizers, civic structures, sisters, cousins, and landscape–in collective catharsis, grief, and joy. Sharita holds a BA from UC Berkeley, an MFA from Portland State University, and was recently appointed Program Head of the Pacific Northwest College of Art’s MFA in Visual Studies. Sharita’s work has received support from organizations like Creative Capital, the Fulbright Association, Art Matters, The Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, The Miller Foundation, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Open Signal, SPACES in Cleveland, and the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland. She is a 2020 MRG Lilla Jewel Award recipient.