Photo: A Portland Journal, Part 4

Remembrance of things not so very past: As Portland crawls back from the crises of the past three years, K.B. Dixon's urban portraits capture the everyday beauty of the city that was.

May 14, 2023

K.B. Dixon

Culture, Photography

Hatfield Hall, 2017

Text and Photographs by K.B. DIXON

As in the previous installments of this short series, I have collected images from an ongoing project, from what is basically a photographic journal—images that offer a look at Portland before the pandemic, social justice protests, and a homeless crisis transformed it. These images are mutable memories—they can punish as easily as they reward. One can be encouraged by a glimpse of the past, prompted to hope, or discouraged by it, plunged into an existential disgruntlement. The experience will vary with the viewer.

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Rally, 2011

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Cars in the Park, 2018

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Mad Hatter, 2015

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Face Painting, 2015

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Zebra Print, 2014

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Cotton Candy, 2014

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Family, 2019

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Food Carts, 2018

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Bagdad, 2014

PREVIOUSLY IN THIS SERIES

Part 1: A Portland Journal: The city in photos.
Part 2: Photo: A Portland Journal, Part 2.
Part 3: Photo: A Portland Journal, Part 3

K.B. Dixon

K.B. Dixon’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and journals. His most recent collection of stories, Artifacts: Irregular Stories (Small, Medium, and Large), was published in Summer 2022. The recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship Award, he is the winner of both the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Eric Hoffer Book Award. He is the author of seven novels: The Sum of His Syndromes, Andrew (A to Z), A Painter’s Life, The Ingram Interview, The Photo Album, Novel Ideas, and Notes as well as the essay collection Too True, Essays on Photography, and the short story collection, My Desk and I. Examples of his photographic work may be found in private collections, juried exhibitions, online galleries, and at K.B. Dixon Images.