A new temporary public art project is being installed along the median strip on NE Holladay Street between the Oregon Convention Center and the new Hyatt Hotel and parking structure. As part of a new series called In—Between, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) invited Portland-based artist Intisar Abioto and Brooklyn-based artist Hank Willis Thomas to create ten banners, each 10 feet tall, featuring the artists’ words and images. The banners will appear on five posts along NE Holladay Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 1st Avenue through May 31.

Funding comes from the city’s Percent-for-Art ordinance, which sets aside 2% of the construction costs for Prosper Portland’s new parking garage to create public art. An artist selection panel was composed of community members, artists and representatives from Prosper Portland, the Oregon Convention Center, Mayer-Reed Landscape Architecture.  The panel agreed that goals for the project should include bold artwork that connects to the area’s communities and reflects the general concepts of movement, change, adaptation – addressing a general statement of “where are we going.”

With this pilot exhibition, the panel seized on an opportunity to feature internationally acclaimed multi-disciplinary artist Hank William Thomas, whose work is currently featured in an exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, and pairing him with a local multi-disciplinary artist in Intisar Abioto.

Please note: There has been a delay in installing the banners. Stay tuned; more information about this project will be posted on racc.org after December 10.