Text and Photographs by K.B. DIXON
“The portrait,” said legendary photographer Arnold Newman, “is a form of biography. Its purpose is to inform now and to record for history.” It is hard to imagine a better, more succinct summation of the genre.
The portraits informing and recording here are the latest in a series titled In the Frame—a survey of the talented and dedicated people whose contributions to the art, character, and culture of this city have made it what it is today, people whose work has become part of our collective consciousness, whose various legacies are destined to be part of our cultural heritage.
As with the previous portraits in this series, I have tried to produce first a decent photograph—a photograph that acknowledges the medium’s allegiance to reality as its primal source of strength but one that is more than simple transcription—a photograph that presents a feeling as well as a form, one that preserves for myself and others a faithful representation of its subject.
Steve Wax
First U.S. Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon and now Legal Director of the Oregon Innocence Project.
Sponsor
Dámaso Rodríguez
Artistic Director of Artists Repertory Theater.
Sarah Slipper
Artistic Director of Northwest Dance Project.
Sponsor
Jim Lommasson
Award-winning photographer. His books include Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories and What We Carried: Fragments From the Cradle of Civilization.
Leroy Bynum, Jr.
Dean of the College of Arts at Portland State University, professor, and opera singer.
Sponsor
Subashini Ganesan
Portland’s Creative Laureate, and founder of New Expressive Works.
Andi Zeisler
Co-founder, Editorial/Creative Director of Bitch Media.
Arvie Smith
Sponsor
Provocative painter, teacher, and civil-rights advocate.
David Naimon
Writer and erudite host of the radio show and podcast Between the Covers.
Samantha Wall
Award-winning artist whose work is primarily focused on ethnicity, gender, and identity.
Sponsor
Paul Collins
Literary historian, crime author, memoirist, professor, and editor. His latest book is Blood & Ivy: The 1849 Murder that Scandalized Harvard.
Joe Powers
International award-winning harmonica virtuoso, teacher, and recording artist.
Sponsor
Previously in the series:
- IN THE FRAME: ELEVEN MEN. Portraits of leading figures ranging from the late Claymation master Will Vinton to the Hollywood Theatre’s Doug Whyte and jazz drummer Mel Brown.
- IN THE FRAME: ELEVEN WOMEN. Portraits of leading figures ranging from Oregon Symphony concertmaster Sarah Kwak to abstract painter Lucinda Parker and novelist Monica Drake.
- IN THE FRAME 3: LENS ON ARTISTS. Portraits of leading figures ranging from artist Sherrie Wolf to theater empresario Jose Gonzalez to blues singers LaRhonda Steele and Curtis Salgado to radio producer Laura Hadden.
