I moved to Portland in the Fall of 2018, familiar with the rains of the Pacific Northwest but new to the busy urban landscape. I sought out horse chestnut trees, trees that for me were reminiscent of the autumns of my childhood which often found my family and I hunting for horse chestnuts in Seattle parks. In seeking out these trees, I stumbled upon a ‘Nuisance Tree List.’ Provided by the official city of Portland website, this list includes plants which are prohibited from being planted within specific zones of the city, primarily as an effort to manage invasive species. This realization combined with the stray cats I’d encountered in my first few months in Portland and my growing awareness of Portland’s housing crises. In turn, these connections led me to create illustrations exploring my interest in mind-mapping as a way to learn a place and to find alternative ways to experience the physical navigation of a place.
I chose to work with the traditional toile style, because its typically pastoral illustrations offered an opportunity to subvert expectations of content. What would it look like to represent some of the ignored, overlooked aspects of Portland by using a medium known for its blandly pleasant representations of place? What does it mean to create such a pattern and then make wallpaper from it, to curate a space with wallpaper composed of images which in their nature are often dismissed?