Alex Chiu and the Leaders of East Portland
Thrive East PDX announces a new documentary video about the mural of East Portland women painted by artist Alex Chiu.
The idea of making a documentary of the mural planned for the building at the corner of SE 122nd and Powell Blvd. came about in September 2022 at a meeting of the Midway Business Association. Muralist Alex Chiu did a presentation on some of his earlier mural projects. After the meeting, members of the Thrive East PDX Vision Team discussed the project with Chiu and a plan was made to produce a documentary of the mural, to show the process that Chiu uses to decide on a subject and develop his design for the project. Thrive East PDX seeks to capture the stories of the people and events that are important to residents of outer East Portland.
Videographer Valerie Dolan, of Thrive East PDX worked with Alex to capture film of the design and development stages. Dolan filmed Chiu’s work in several stages over several weeks this Spring. The film shows Chiu working and interacting with the public as the mural emerged on the busy street corner. The creation of the mural became a very visible and interactive event over the weeks as Chiu created the faces of four well-known women leaders from the SE Portland neighborhood. The women are depicted in clothing that reflects their ethnic heritage. Three of the four women, Lisha Strestha, Halimo Alinur, and Olena Borova are from immigrant backgrounds. The fourth, Diana Nuno-Prerez, has Native American background. Each of the women are leaders in their community and contribute to the enhancement of our thriving East Portland neighborhoods.
The mural was commissioned by the Midway Business Association, with grant assistance from Venture Portland, and support from the Portland Street Art Alliance.
The video was commissioned by Thrive East PDX and made possible with funding help from Seeding Justice. See more at thriveeastpdx.org/#stories.
