Momentary Monuments

Montgomery Plaza, Portland OR, 2022
In collaboration with M. Michelle Illuminato

Momentary Monuments was a public event hosted in a plaza in downtown Portland that I created in collaboration with M. Michelle Illuminato. Members of the public were invited to consider what aspect of their day they would want to commemorate. Passers-by sat down across the table from student artists from Portland State University, working together to bring the memorials into physical form. Over the course of the day, an open-air sculpture park began to develop, with miniature monuments installed on a sprawling collection of plinths. At the end of the day, the 150 sculptures were pounded back into formless lumps of clay. The project explored the idea of a public monument as temporal, highly individual, and fleeting. 


With support from PSU Creative Placemaking pilot program which is a partnership between CUPA and the Planning and Sustainability Office. Funding for this program is from the CUPA Dean’s Office, the President’s Fall Activation Fund, and the PBOT Healthy Business Program. Additional support provided by the School of Art+Design’s Material Lab and the students in the CORE program.





Installation views

The event was co-facilitated by student artists



The promotional poster also served as a worksheet for the event


Participant artwork