Join us for the 8th Vanport Mosaic Festival, our annual memory activism celebration to Remember, Repair, Reclaim, and Re-image our collective story. Let’s commemorate together the 75th anniversary of the flood that destroyed Vanport - and honor the community that called Vanport home. From May 18th to May 29th, we invite you to learn about Oregon’s Katrina-like disaster with exhibits, artistic tributes, a reunion/celebration of former Vanport residents and survivors, documentary screenings and oral history recordings, tours of the historic Vanport area, and presentations.

Curated by Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti
 laura@vanportmosaic.org - 510.717.2441

2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the flood that destroyed Vanport, once Oregon’s second-largest city and the largest WWII federal housing project in the United States. 

Flood survivors are now in their 80s and 90s, so the Festival offers a long-overdue opportunity to honor and learn from their experience. The 75th anniversary of the flood, especially in light of the Covid pandemic and the ongoing devastating impact of climate change, will offer a timely opportunity to reflect on the state of emergency preparedness of our city, particularly on how disasters often replicate and deepen social inequalities.

AWARDS

The Vanport Mosaic was awarded the Oregon Heritage Excellence Award, the Spirit of Portland Award by City Commissioner Nick Fish, and the Columbia Slough Watershed Council’s Achievement Award. 

In 2022  the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized Vanport Mosaic as one of 80 organizations nationwide using historical places as catalysts for a more just and equitable society, showcasing the multi-layered intersections of underrepresented communities of people.

For a taste of the Vanport Mosaic Festival and its impact, we invite you to watch the short documentaries:
History from the Bottom Up: The Making of The Vanport Mosaic Festival 2016
Legacy of A Forgotten City - The Vanport Mosaic Festival 2017
Call For Memory Activism: The Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018

PROGRAM (In Progress!)

Thursday, May 18

The Spirit of Vanport

Time: TBD

Location: Vanport Building, Downtown Portland

Details: Festival Kick-Off with PSU President Stephen Percy, PSU Office of Diversity and Global Inclusion, honoring Vanport’s former residents, survivors, and descendants. This is also an opportunity to see the permanent Vanport Mosaic installation.

Friday, May 19

Artwork by Henk Pander: “The Climate Refugees of Vanport” and “The Artist as Eyewitness to History”

Time: 6-8 pm

Location: Historic Alberta House

Details: Exhibit reception with a presentation by Daniel Dufour.

Saturday, May 20

Annual Reunion  for Vanport Residents and Flood Survivors

Private event by invitation only 

The Music of Miracle City

Time: 6-8 pm

Location: Historic Alberta House
Details: Presentation by public historian and ethnomusicologist Kelly Bosworth

Sunday, May 21

The Past, Present, and Future of Flood Safety

Time: 10 am - 12:30 pm

Location: Delta Park MAX Station
Details: Join Flood Safe Columbia River on a walking tour that highlights Vanport’s history, the conditions that led to the catastrophic Vanport flood, and what local partners are doing to prevent catastrophic flooding in the future.

SOUL Conversation with Albina Music Trust

Time: 2-4 pm

Location: Historic Alberta House

Details: Albina Music Trust brings together Albina’s elder musicians to activate memory through storytelling. The event features Mel Brown, Norman Sylvester, Ron Steen, Ken Berry, and Calvin Walker. Archival photography showcasing Abina’s historic music culture will be presented in conjunction with the conversation.

Tuesday, May 23

Guild’s Lake: An Impermanent Housing Project

Time: 6 - 8 pm

Location: Lloyd Center
Details: Presentation by Tanya March and exhibit by Braided River.

Wednesday, May 24

the Annual City of Portland’s Proclamation for a Vanport Day of Remembrance

Time: 10 - 12 pm

Location: City Hall

Details: Join Vanport survivors and descendants and Vanport Mosaic memory activists as we commemorate the anniversary of the Memorial Day flood that destroyed Vanport in 1948, and Mayor Ted Wheeler declares May 30 Vanport Day of Remembrance.

Thursday, May 25

Lost City, Living Memories: Vanport Through The Voices of Its Residents

Time: 6 - 8 pm

Location: Historic Alberta House
Details: Screening of short oral history documentaries from the Vanport Mosaic collection, with Vanport survivor Ed Washington - in collaboration with Columbia Slough Watershed Council.

Friday, May 26

Vanport: A Story Lived. A Story Told
Time: On display until June 11, 2023
Location: Rose Festival's Jim Neill Memorial Museum at the Waterfront CityFair, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, 98 SW Naito Pkwy

Details: Vanport Mosaic pop-up traveling exhibit

Saturday, May 27

An Afternoon for Remembering and Re-seeding For Liberation

Time: 12 - 4 pm

Location:  EXPO/Hall A and Delta Park/historic Vanport

Details: Memory activism, healing, Blackberry Art, stories, pop-up exhibits,  and screenings on the Indigenous land where Vanport once stood and nearly 4,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated.
We gather and experience together throughout the afternoon  activities and cultural offerings led by  Indigenous, African American, Japanese American and Latinex artists and community weavers

• The Assembly by Chisao Hata
  Artist, storyteller, and community weaver Chisao Hata brings together communities whose stories intersect in Vanport. Join the "Story Room" as the circle becomes whole by weaving cultural stories of life in Vanport together. 

  Can someone else's story help us understand our own? 
  THE ASSEMBLY CENTER is new work exploring the history and memories of the place where 3800 persons of Japanese and Japanese American ancestry were held as prisoners in Portland, Oregon, while incarceration camps were being built. THE ASSEMBLY CENTER  builds connections to place, loss, family, celebrations, and land. On May 27th, at the former site, shared stories will reveal parallel lives of interconnectedness. 

• Remember Us by Chisao Hata
  a temporary memorial to Japanese Americans held at the Portland Assembly Center in 1943 honoring their history, loss, erasure, and continuing ReClaiming of Culture, History, and Stories. 

• The Japanese American Museum of Oregon will display  history boards, signage, photos, and memorabilia of the Portland Assembly Center.

• The Architecture of Internment by Graham Street Production:  traveling exhibit exploring how Oregonians participated in the decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants during World War II.

• Video Altar by Joemil Santos (content curation: Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti)
  A container for our converging stories: past,  present, and future; a space to enter willingly,  contemplate quietly, and love unconditionally;  an altar for the land and its people; a place to amplify, honor, present, and preserve the silenced histories that surround us; an opportunity to be in a circle,  to be present, to witness, and ultimately, to choose: How will these stories live on? How and what will you add to these stories? What action will you take to make sure these stories never repeat themselves? 

• Presence and Preservation: Force Lake Birdwatching and Historical Walking Tour (12-2 pm)
  Join Marti Clemmons (Portland State University archivist/historian) and Han Lyons (BIRDHERS) as they contextualize a space where history and nature meet.

• Soft Earth & Hard Ground
  an art-infused walk in former Vanport led by environmental artist Linda Wysong

• Anywhere but Here: The History of Housing Discrimination in Oregon
  Traveling exhibit by the Fair Housing Council of Oregon chronicles Oregon’s largely unknown history of discrimination, segregation, and displacement, as well as the progress we’ve made in overcoming this history and the challenges that remain.

• Story Harvest
  Vanport Mosaic and XRAYs volunteers will Digitize your scrapbooks, photos, and artifacts about Vanport + record your memories for the Vanport Mosaic Archive. 

Sunday, May 28

Guild’s Lake walking tour

Time: TBD

Details: guided tour with Tanya March/Slabtown.

A space for grief and healing (temporary title)

Time: 1-6pm
Location: Historic Alberta House
Details: Altars, music, community - curated and facilitated by Ridhi D’Cruz and Aaron Spriggs

Monday, May 29

Presence and Preservation: Force Lake Birdwatching and Historical Walking Tour

(Womin & Queer centered Community Walk)

Time: 12-2 pm

Location: Delta Park/Historic Vanport
Details: Join Marti Clemmons (Portland State University archivist/historian) and Han Lyons (BIRDHERS) as they contextualize a space where history and nature meet.

Throughout the Festival

EXHIBITS At the Historic Alberta House

• Artwork by Henk Pander: “The Climate Refugees of Vanport” and “ The Artist as Eyewitness to History”

Originally from the Netherlands, Henk Pander was a child during WWII. Since immigrating to the PNW in 1965, he became one of the region’s most renowned artists. This “art giant” passed away on April 7th, 2023, but his legacy continues through his artwork. The Vanport Mosaic had the honor to collaborate with Henk Pander in the past few years and to present some of his history paintings as part of our memory activism. We are grateful to Henk and his family for entrusting us with the watercolors from the Vanport series and the large-scale paintings Henk created in response to 2020's racial justice protests. 

• Wall to Wall - Albina Music Trust
  In 1960s Portland, the Cotton Club was a pillar in Albina’s Black community. The venue welcomed a multigenerational and multiracial clientele, presenting live music and much more. A destination for touring acts and a common ground for locals, owner Paul Knauls, Sr. has famously described it as “The only place on the West Coast with Wall To Wall Soul.” Now, over half a century later, Albina Music Trust presents photography, newsprint, and poster art depicting this legendary epoch in Portland music history.