I created this series of ephemera art boxes created for Insert Change Here (insertchangehere.com), a fundraiser put on by W+K 12.8 to benefit arts education in Portland public schools. Each box contained the possessions of one Portland resident on a significant day in the city’s history, and on the day when each encountered an unusual creature in the water. They were placed in vending machines and sold on the event’s opening night.

1905 – Margaret Reneau

Margaret, a traveler along the Oregon Trail, was among the first settlers in the region.

1949 – Leonard “Lenny” Brick

Lenny Brick was a worker who had arrived in the city to help construct “Liberty ships”. He lived in the city of Vanport at the time of the flood that destroyed it.

1955 – Frances Makin

Frances participated in the practice evacuation of Portland in the 50s, organized as a way to train city residents in the event of a nuclear attack.

1980 – Lori Brassfield

Lori was a young teenager at the time of the Mt. St. Helens eruption.

1996 – Patrick Holdsworth

Patrick’s sister Amy went missing around the time that a serious drought hit the city of Portland.

These archival boxes were compiled on behalf of a researcher, by her assistant, and were presented to their current owners for safekeeping.