‘If We Could Talk’ Community Voices in collaboration with Oregon Metro, Self Enchancement, Inc. and Artist Gwen Hoeffgen
Portland, Oregon
2025
Featured Artists: Daunice Davis. Andre Conroy. Kennedy Conroy.
Valencia Edwards. Alice Forbes. Wynter Forbes. Yolonda Denise Lampkin.
Amani Hart-Lampkin. Oris Shaw. Quentin Staples.
If We Could Talk is a collaborative photographic and oral history project developed within the Dr. Darrell Millner Building in Portland’s historically Black Albina neighborhood. The building prioritizes residents with historical ties to North and Northeast Portland who were displaced by urban renewal, redlining, and racist zoning policies.
Co-facilitated, co-conceptualized, and co-curated with Gwen Hoeffgen, the project was created in collaboration with Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI), which owns and operates the building and supported resident coordination and logistics. The project was funded by Oregon Metro through the voter-passed Metro Affordable Housing Bond.
Through a series of workshops centered on 35mm black-and-white film photography and reflective writing, ten resident artists, ages range 13-60, explored questions of home, memory, and belonging amid neighborhood change. Participants learned photographic techniques, developed and processed film at Franklin Foto, and several continued their practice beyond the project.
The project functioned as a site of connection within the building, creating space for neighbors to meet, share personal histories, and build relationships. Centering residents as image-makers and narrators, If We Could Talk positions those most impacted by displacement as authors of their own representation.
The resulting photographs and writings were exhibited at The Black Gallery, where art and activism intersect. Printed on aluminum, the works reflect themes of resilience, movement, and remaining—revealing a sense of place shaped by loss, continuity, and collective memory.
2025
Featured Artists: Daunice Davis. Andre Conroy. Kennedy Conroy.
Valencia Edwards. Alice Forbes. Wynter Forbes. Yolonda Denise Lampkin.
Amani Hart-Lampkin. Oris Shaw. Quentin Staples.
If We Could Talk is a collaborative photographic and oral history project developed within the Dr. Darrell Millner Building in Portland’s historically Black Albina neighborhood. The building prioritizes residents with historical ties to North and Northeast Portland who were displaced by urban renewal, redlining, and racist zoning policies.
Co-facilitated, co-conceptualized, and co-curated with Gwen Hoeffgen, the project was created in collaboration with Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI), which owns and operates the building and supported resident coordination and logistics. The project was funded by Oregon Metro through the voter-passed Metro Affordable Housing Bond.
Through a series of workshops centered on 35mm black-and-white film photography and reflective writing, ten resident artists, ages range 13-60, explored questions of home, memory, and belonging amid neighborhood change. Participants learned photographic techniques, developed and processed film at Franklin Foto, and several continued their practice beyond the project.
The project functioned as a site of connection within the building, creating space for neighbors to meet, share personal histories, and build relationships. Centering residents as image-makers and narrators, If We Could Talk positions those most impacted by displacement as authors of their own representation.
The resulting photographs and writings were exhibited at The Black Gallery, where art and activism intersect. Printed on aluminum, the works reflect themes of resilience, movement, and remaining—revealing a sense of place shaped by loss, continuity, and collective memory.