Arvie Smith : Still We Rise Print Fundraiser

Over Cargo’s 25-year lifetime we’ve had the great privilege to meet and get to know many of Portland’s artists & creatives. Arvie Smith and his wife Julie are great friends and supporters of Cargo, including regularly hosting our favorite vendor from Mali. It’s such a treat to buy from Omar, but it’s made even more special when we can do so in Arvie & Julie’s home. It was through these experiences that our friendship with Arvie grew, and he generously offered us prints of his iconic work.

We’re thrilled to offer a limited number of Arvie’s prints and share his narrative of the piece with you.

Ever the educator, Arvie Smith says, “My intent is to shine the light on the sore of racism, to flip the racial taboos using my dedicated abilities and increasing prominence to make some discernible impact on the social discourse and visual culture of modern America.”

Starting with the Vanport Floods of 1948, this narrative work weaves the systematic dismantling of a community through dislocation and gentrification, as it simultaneously exalts the upward struggle and strength of the residents of the Albina forging forward with resilience and a vision of determination and hope. 

Let this work be held as a landmark at the core of this historic neighborhood that is rapidly changing structurally, socially and economically capturing the rich culture and history of Albina to inspire identity, pride and unity. 

Historic events, landmarks, and resolve depicted in the mural include the Vanport Flood, the legendary Jazz scene, property redlining, police brutality, the demolition of Black spaces, and the community breakdown created by the Memorial Coliseum, the Rose Quarter, Emmanuel Hospital and the I-5 construction.  Inspired by Maya Angelo, in her poem Still I Rise, she writes “the nobleness of the human spirit” and the resolve to move beyond a “past rooted in pain”, Smith created the central figure pointing to the Still We Rise flag to encourage strength, pride and hope for future generations.

You can see Arvie’s 10-by-17-foot porcelain enamel panel original mural, Still We Rise, on the Alberta Commons building at Alberta & Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Portland Oregon.

Please visit Avrie’s site to learn more about him and his legendary work: HERE

18” x 22.5” Print Fundraiser
We are selling prints of Arvie’s Still We Rise for $30 as a fundraiser for North by Northeast Community Health Center. North by Northeast focuses on health care for Black Portlanders and is made up of a staff of spirited folks that believe deeply in their mission offering health and well-being to folks who otherwise go unserved.