Let Er Rip: On show at 811 Stark in Portland

Let ‘Er Rip can be seen 24 hours a day at 811 SE Stark St., Portland, Ore., through early summer 2025.

The Let ‘Er Rip show—a collage and disability arts collaboration that draws together Pacific Northwest artists—is on show now through early summer at 811 SE Stark in Portland, Oregon. I do hope you’ll stop by and take it in, or visit the exhibit website to take a look. For this project, which I’m humbled to have organized, the work started with Neva, an artist who lives with disability, and whose practice revolves around ripping paper. After learning about her practice and documenting its beauty, I shared her torn fodder with a dozen or so collage artists I know through the Northwest Collage Society and Pacific Northwest Collage Collective. Collectively, we created 24 new works with Neva’s paper, and they’re now hanging with beautiful black-and-white photos of Neva at work in a publicly viewable space in the heart of the city’s Central Eastside. Collaborations can take all forms, and this is one that emphasizes the agency, dignity, and power of people who might otherwise not be centered within public space. Who gets a voice, and who does not? Even without words, we all have something to say; this exhibit is a testament to the powerful bonds art can forge, and to the magic that can spring from communities that reflect the full breadth of human experience.