Untold Portlanders have gazed at the artwork of Isaka Shamsud-Din — they just might not have known it.
From Dawson Park in the heart of Albina, to the Oregon Convention Center and Portland State University student union, Shamsud-Din’s murals and portraits depict many of the Pacific Northwest’s pioneering Black figures, as well as friends and family from his own life.
The artist — whose activism in the Civil Rights movement began with his childhood in the South and continued in Oregon, where he spearheaded art education programs in local schools and prisons – died on June 16 after a long battle with cancer…