To See My Face, To Hear My Voice: Art Exhibit & Sale
February 4, 2021 @ 2:00 pm - February 28, 2021 @ 5:00 pm
To See My Face, To Hear My Voice: Art Exhibit & Sale
Latoya Lovely
This pop-up gallery in Old Town / Chinatown will be open three days a week, from February 4 -28 as follows:
Thursdays – 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Fridays – 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Saturdays – 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Final showing on Sunday, February 28 – 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Artist Statement
“This is an amazing time to be propelled into “firsts,” and I am so honored to have you be a part of my first experience curating an art show for our community! To See My Face, To Hear My Voice will open on February 4th in the space adjacent to Laundry PDX (140 NW 4th Ave. Portland). The show will run through February 28th, with open times being Thursday/Friday evenings, and Saturday during the day. There will be 7 amazing artists featured, and I look forward to seeing in person the amazing creations born of your fingertips from this time.
To tell you a little about myself, my sister just reminded me that I would always be inside coloring when she was outside getting dirty. That Latoya always knew she would be an artist, but it’s still wild to me as an adult that I’m doing it!! I traveled nationally and internationally for 13 years as a professional dancer with a modern dance company. I taught dance up until the day before I gave birth to my son James, and I’ve been an educator ever since, currently working for PPS in Special Education.
This project was brought to me by the amazing Dan Klinkert, OTCA Community Development Director. As Black people our lives have been filled by the media with images that reflect nothing of us. We have been told it is because we have no value, but in these moments, we have risen yet again luminescent in our resilience. As artists we are always shouting to the world through our canvas, our photography, our dance, our song. Shouting to be heard, and when we finally see our beautiful brown faces illuminated from the tv screen, a billboard, behind a podium, and we hear our voices strong and rich, it is life changing. It is powerful. That is a fragment of what To See My Face, To Hear My Voice is to me. Sincerely, Latoya Lovely.”