PORTLAND IN QUARANTINE

2020

6k digital video, 10 mins, 2020

The election of President Trump sparked civil unrest in Portland, OR. Throughout his divisive four years in office, citizens took to the streets in defense of civil society and human rights. These public demonstrations came to a tipping point with the murder of George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police. Outraged by ongoing police impunity, concatenated with cabin fever from lock-down orders aimed to combat the global pandemic, protest devolved into violence, including attacks at federal property, which the White House used as an excuse to deploy a cocktail of federal forces to the City. Ostensibly to keep the peace, the federal officers startled mainstream America by using tactics more frequently seen under military dictatorships.

While the pandemic seemed to heighten tensions, it was the wildfires that brought the protests to a halt. A blanket of smoke over the Pacific Northwest registered the worst air quality on earth. The fires displaced 500,000 inhabitants around Portland. 

This is a vignette of Portland during the 2020, SARS-COV-2 pandemic.

Shot September 4-6, 2020.