New artworks by Indigenous artists Zoey Holsclaw and Nakoa Mercier were recently installed in Downtown Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park near the Hawthorne Bridge, and Portlanders are invited to explore these impactful, culturally relevant pieces through spring 2026.
Commissioned by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Tribe and the Tribe's Cultural Resources Department, the installation is titled Traveling with Our Ancestors. Designed by artists and enrolled Grand Ronde Tribal Members, these works celebrate living Indigenous cultural activities and highlight historic canoes that are still used today—especially during the annual Inter-Tribal Canoe Journey. "Being in the canoe is where I feel most connected to my ancestors, my people, and the water." said Zoey Holsclaw, who created two of the three works. "It centers me and feeds my spirit."
This project was supported by the City of Portland's Office of Arts & Culture, through its Portland Monuments Project, the Mellon Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, and Lewis & Clark College.
"Tribal history is our shared history in Portland," said the Office of Arts & Culture's Assistant Director Darion Jones. "Traveling with Our Ancestors invites the public to listen, learn, reflect, and share in community memory with Portland's Native and Indigenous neighbors in Grand Ronde and across Oregon."
Portland's downtown riverfront along the Willamette River has not always been a central hub—historically, people traveled through the area going to or coming from their nearby villages. The cultural practices, stories, and teachings of a place, especially those with deep foundational and long-duration activities of an area's Indigenous people should be presented in public art and monuments. Grand Ronde's Cultural Resources Department calls this work "place-keeping" and first developed the idea for Traveling with Our Ancestors in response to Converge 45's 2021 open call for their Portland Monuments and Memorial Project.