Free First Thursday

Overview Portland Art Museum invites the community to join a Free First Thursday event, offering free admission to the museum for all. The day will include opportunities for visitors to engage with A Brief History of Photography: the Portrait and An Honest Day’s Work exhibitions through “Look With Me” tours and gallery conversations centered on portraiture, storytelling, memory, and representation. There will also be screenings of the documentary The Photograph in the Whitsell Auditorium. Schedule 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. The Hands of Portland: Holding On, Stevens Boardroom 12 – 3 p.m. Drop in Artmaking- Sun Printing, Level 2 Balcony; 005, Finley Learning Studio 3 & 5 p.m. Screening: The Photograph, Whitsell Auditorium  4 – 6 p.m. Look With Me – 20 min guided slow looking session with a single artwork, every 30 mins, look for signs in the galleries The Photograph Discover the profound legacy of the Harlem Renaissance through a special screening of The Photograph, a moving documentary by filmmaker Sherman De Jesus. The film follows De Jesus’s journey to New York, guided by the only remaining photograph of his grandfather, Juan de Jesus—a proud Black man elegantly captured in a white tropical suit. The portrait was taken by legendary photographer James Van Der Zee, whose vast body of work went far beyond capturing a moment in time; it shaped the self-image and visual sovereignty of Black Americans by portraying them exactly as they wished to be seen. This screening explores a deeply personal family history interwoven with a broader story of jazz, literature, art, and the enduring power of the archive. The Hands of Portland: Holding On Join Portland-based interdisciplinary artist Brooke Willow for The Hands of Portland: Holding On, an ongoing community photography project exploring the hidden language of our hands and the ways we hold one another through care, memory, labor, grief, love, and connection. During this special one-day event, a temporary photography s

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