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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
M Artin l uther K ing J r . January 16, 2019 2019 special edition Page 35 Creating Social-Justice Themed Artwork C ontinueD froM p age 31 in Ferguson, Mo., and of Eric Gar- ner, the black man who died in Staten Island, New York after an officer put him a headlock while arresting him that same year. Okamoto even had a surreal meeting with President Donald Trump, whom she calls a “dema- gogue,” in the White House over the summer as part of being hon- ored as a presidential scholar. Though she agonized over whether to even attend the meet- ing, as she views the President’s policies as counter to her mission as an activist, she ultimately de- cided to go. But in order to show Trump was not “untouchable,” the young artist said she wore an all white outfit punctuated with the names of victims of police violence, the dates of their deaths, symbols of the indictment process, and the names of the officers involved if they were acquitted. “I was asked multiple times to change by so many different peo- ple. But I stood my ground,” Oka- moto remembered. As a digital artist, the canvas for Okamoto’s art is electronic. She said she was happy to have discovered the medium given its proclivity for being able to be re- produced for protests. “I started creating work for Black Lives Matter, which was a huge part of what I was passionate about. And I got in contact with Teressa Raiford, who runs Don’t Shoot Portland, and I just started creating work with them,” the art- ist remembered. “It’s the perfect medium for our time today where there’s such a big sues later on. In 2007, she moved to Portland, the whitest major city in America, a transition that was difficult for her as a person of color, she said. She said it was super-jarring, “Coming from New York City, this Mecca for diversity.” In high school, Okamoto ad- vocated for other classmates im- pacted by mental health issues. She volunteered as a suicide and crisis hotline operator and as stu- dent peer sex educator for Planned Parenthood in Portland. Now, the young activist is back living in New York City as a vol- unteer eighth grade math teacher for AmeriCorps. She’s taking a gap year while taking a college course online before entering school full time for art at Tufts University in Massachusetts. When it comes to activism, Okamoto gives a lot of credit to Raiford, who “passed the mega- phone” to her, both literally and metaphorically, during last year’s Reclaim Dr. King March in Port- land on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assas- sination. During the April demonstra- tion, Okamoto led the crowd in a chant and facilitated other kids’ testimony of experiencing racism or sharing their poems or songs. “To be able to stand there and a rtWorK C ourtesy a Meya o KaMoto work with those kids and realize Ameya Okamoto’s portrait of Quanice Hayes, an unarmed black 17-year-old who was killed by that even though you have the Portland Police in February 2017. The artwork was carried in protests by Don’t Shoot Portland and megaphone, passing it is the most Black Lives Matter Portland following Hayes’ death. Okamoto even participated in the protests and important thing that I think some- presented the portrait to Hayes’ family at his memorial. one can do,” she said. need for globalization of thoughts Okamoto moved around a lot cio-economic household under a For more information about and idea around equity and diver- as a kid. That, combined with single parent, caused her to strug- Okamoto and her artwork, visit sity. Because we’re in a digital age the stress of living in a low so- gle with some mental health is- ameyamarie.com. and you can just screenshot and share,” Okamoto said. a rtWorK C ourtesy a Meya o KaMoto A digital portrait of Taliesin Namkai-Meche by Portland social justice artist Ameya Okamoto showcases one of the two victims who were fatally stabbed on a MAX train in northeast Portland in 2017 while trying to stop a man’s xenophobic and racist slurs directed at two young girls.