PORTLAND INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Presents
Who by Fire
RAY ANTHONY BARRETT
Exhibition Dates
July 12th – August 9th, 2025
GALLERY GUIDE
Untitled (dining table and benches), 2025
Pinewood, joinery, charred top, shellac finish
Table dimensions: 120 x 65 x 28.5 inches
Bench dimensions: 110 x 11 x 19 inches and 48 x 11 x 19 inches
a. Glass chandelier, 2025
Emily Endo
b. Indigo dyed linens, 2025
Bridgette Hickey
c. Recycled glassware, 2025
Lynn Everett Read (Vitreluxe)
d. Floral design, 2025
Alexandria Saleem
e. Ceramic dinnerware, 2025
Sam Schrott
f. Ceramic vases, 2025
Aubrey Sloan
g. Antique silverware, dates variable
Sourced by Denise Barrett and MK Guth
Camp Fire Cooking System with Pot Hangers, 2025
Carved cedar wood, paracord
Dimensions: 57 x 47 x 41.5 inches
Votive, 2025
Assemblage of wood log, book, Cowrie shells, ceramic bowl, votive candle, and incense
Dimensions variable
Have Mercy, date unknown
Found Japanese Yakitori fan, paper, wood
Dimensions: 14.5 x 9.5 inches
Charred interior of living redwood, 2020
Recycled fabric print
Dimensions: 113 x 83 inches
Fledgelings, 2025
Oak feather sticks
Dimensions variable
Quiver, 2025
Swedish torch, hand drill spindles, seasoned willow, cedar hearth board
Dimensions variable
Bow Drills, 2025
Rope twisting jig, willow spindles, sandstone bearing block, failed sandstone bearing block, hearth board, leather cordage, hazelwood, Osage orange, paracord
Dimensions variable
Siberian Fire Lay, 2025
Pinewood overnight fire lay
Dimensions: 51 x 78 x 108 inches
Untitled, 2025
Charcoal and Sumi ink wall drawing
Dimensions: 18 x 9 feet
Nourssjo, 2025
Pinewood overnight fire lay, traditionally built by the Indigenous Sámi peoples of Sweden for survival in extreme cold conditions
Dimensions: 69 x 87 x 19 inches
Tinder Box, 2025
Assorted tinder, fire lighting materials, and tools
a. Pine resin
b. Stormproof matches
c. Fatwood
d. Flint, steel, quartz, chert, char cloth, canvas, and charring tin
e. Lighters
f. Ferro rod and striker
g. Birch bark
h. Chaga
i. Tinder bundle
Dimensions: 33 x 61 x 30 inches
EXHIBITION DATES
July 12 – August 9, 2025
GALLERY HOURS
Thursdays 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Fridays 12:00 – 6:00 PM
Saturdays 12:00 – 4:00 PM
OPENING RECEPTION
July 12, 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Exhibition walkthrough from 12:30 – 1:00 PM
Food and refreshments from 1:00 – 4:00 PM
CLOSING RECEPTION
August 9, 12:00 – 4:00 PM
AND COMMUNITY POTLUCK
EXHIBITION CONTRIBUTORS AND FRIENDS
Mirabai Collins (Black Futures Farm), Emily Endo, Arminda Gandara, Daniel Grady (Black Futures Farm), MK Guth, Bridgette Hickey, Malcolm Shabazz Hoover (Black Futures Farm), Shantae Johnson (Mudbone Grown), Prentice Onayemi (Foglight Farms), Nathaniel Price (Revel Meat Co.), Mia Raiah (Black Oregon Land Trust), Lynn Everett Read (Vitreluxe), Alexandria Saleem, Sam Schrott, Art Shavers (Mudbone Grown), Aubrey Sloan, Sharita Towne (A Black Art Ecology of Portland), Paul West (Treetoppa Rib Crib)
Learn more
EXHIBITION STATEMENT
Rooted in dovetailing practices of artmaking and gastronomy, Ray Anthony Barrett explores themes that emerge through field studies in the landscapes of the American West. Who by Fire returns to fire as one of the most fundamental elements for human survival. Using only the most basic tools, Barrett engages with fire in a decolonial project of making and maintaining, thinking ahead and looking back for ancestral guidance.
Barrett has sourced the materials for this presentation on trips through the Pacific Northwest and into California. Along the way, he continued his study of bushcraft, made sculpture both on-site at PICA and in the wilds of the West Coast, and spent deep time fermenting, curing, writing, and photographing in and on nature.
The communal and food-oriented dimensions of fire starting and keeping are a major focus of the exhibition, which features a collaboratively-designed dining area and space dedicated to fire-based cooking. The hearth and table are where people come together to share stories and meals, and to take care of one another. Throughout the show, Barrett will design,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND THANKS
cook, and host meals for the collaborators, farmers, and purveyors who have contributed to the project. At these communal gatherings, the artist and attendees will have discussions on futurity through creativity, care for the land, and community. Who by Fire will close with a potluck where all are invited to attend and contribute.
For Barrett, utilizing repurposed and reclaimed materials made through collaboration embodies a holistic philosophy of art that is characteristic to many African, Asian, and Indigenous aesthetic traditions, without hierarchies or divisions between fine art, functional design, or craft, and animated by the art of living, eating, storytelling, spirituality, and dancing.
This project was funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, with additional support from MK Guth and Greg Landry.
The curator and artist would also like to thank all of the makers, farmers, artists, and connectors who contributed time, talent, craft, conversation, and food to the project. In addition, they are grateful to the staff and board of PICA for their support, care, and stewardship of the exhibition.
EXHIBITION CONTRIBUTORS
AND FRIENDS
MAKERS
Emily Endo, glass chandelier
Bridgette Hickey, indigo dyed linens
Lynn Everett Read (Vitreluxe), glassware made with repurposed bottles
Alexandria Saleem, floral design
Sam Schrott, ceramic dinnerware
Aubrey Sloan, ceramic vases
GROWERS AND PURVEYORS
Black Futures Farm
Mirabai Collins, Daniel Grady, Malcolm Shabazz Hoover
Black Oregon Land Trust
Mia Raiah
Foglight Farms
Prentice Onayemi
Mudbone Grown
Shantae Johnson, Art Shavers
Revel Meat Co.
Nathaniel Price
Treetoppa Rib Crib
Paul West
CONNECTORS
Arminda Gandara
MK Guth
Sharita Towne (A Black Art Ecology of Portland)
PICA STAFF
Jakob Dawahare
Erin Boberg Doughton
Molly Gardner
Kristan Kennedy
Milo Mattern
Samantha Ollstein
Van Pham
Jayne Pugh
Elio Quezada
Reuben Roqueñi
Leslie Vigeant
EXHIBITION STAFF
Noah Beckham, Gallery Attendant
Jakob Dawahare, Graphic Designer
Erté deGarces, Exhibition Designer and Lead Preparator
Molly Gardner, Production Manager
Kristan Kennedy, Curator
Milo Mattern, Preparator
Jayne Pugh, Marketing Associate and Editor
Elio Quezada, Programs Manager
Leslie Vigeant, Director of Marketing and Communications
Freddi Wyss, Preparator
PICA BOARD
André Middleton | Interim Chair
Emily Fusaro | Vice Chair
Kevin Washington | Treasurer
Cristi Miles | Secretary
Nishat Akhtar
Andrew Dickson
Phoebe Ebright
bart fitzgerald
Allie Furlotti
Peter Gronquist
Shelly Kapoor
Stephanie Kelly
Shawna Lipton
Pamela Baker-Miller
sidony o'neal
Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.
A gift of God May sear unready fingers.
— Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower