The PDX Re-Print Lecture Series will present Burnside: A Community, a book of photographs from the Old Town/ Chinatown area in the 1970s by self-taught photographer Kathleen Ryan. The event takes place this Thursday, June 30 at 7pm, at Sisters Of The Road Cafe (133 NW 6th Ave.). $10 sliding scale is recommended.
The lecture will begin with the book’s author Kathleen Ryan in conversation with Street Roots Director Israel Bayer. The event will then open to Suenn Ho and Julie McCurdy, who will speak about their respective work with MulvannyG2 Architecture and Sisters Of The Road Cafe. Together, the group will explore the book’s relevance to Portland today, before a Q & A with the audience.
Documented in the book by Ryan are the flophouses, theaters and saloons of skid row, with attention to the neighborhood’s ethnic and historical origins. The book opens a wider examination of the history of homelessness in Portland as well as current struggles. The book is being republished by The Dill Pickle Club with a new forward from Street Roots' Executive Director Israel Bayer.
The PDX Re-Print Lecture Series is a series of four publications and free public lectures celebrating obscured and out-of-print books on Portland’s visual culture. Held at roving venues on last Thursdays at 7PM, lectures bring together authors, scholars, activists and community members, who will use the books to discuss how we understand our city. Each book will be reissued for sale by Publication Studio on the night of the lecture.