Restoration Roadmaps

The ability to reveal the hidden layers of hydrology can take many forms. Public art is a great mechanism for telling stories in ways that engage and reveal that which is often missing from our day to day experiences. These artworks also highlight key contributions of communities that are often marginalized in the official histories we are taught. Artists Shu-Ju Wang and Lynn Yarne developed a vibrant example of this at the new Lincoln High School in Portland with a large exterior mural called Restoration Roadmaps which locates the hidden hydrology story within the context of the urban high school. The summary of the project, from the artist’s website for Restoration Roadmaps provides some of processes and the outcomes:

“The process enabled us to come to a final design that is a combination of several forms of maps to describe the neighborhood–from historical to a hoped for future, from topographical to ecological, from google map to the old fashioned foldout map. Student and community responses are recorded as part of the topographical contours and inset panels.”

The images are rich with detail, focusing on the high school site and the contemporary grid, juxtaposed with the Tanner Creek historical route with other water bodies that have been erased. The creek gulches were the locations of highly productive garden areas farmed by Chinese immigrants and also provided historical areas of Native American occupation. The mural includes smaller square panels with community work done by other artists and students, and the perimeter of the mural provides detailed assemblages of 40 species of flora and fauna Indigenous to the area.

It was fun to see the process evolve and the final product ‘in the wild’ below. Let me know if you’re local and have seen the mural, or if there are other murals in your community celebrating hidden hydrology. Would love to hear from you.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The lead-up to the public process included some great information compiled by a series of experts on the history, ecology, and culture around the Tanner Creek area and the Chinatown farmers. These included lectures by Dr. Tracy Prince on Native American Traders and Chinese Vegetable Gardens in the Hollows of Old Portland, and Native Americans of Old Portland, and a co-presentation Notable Women of Portland, by Prince and her daughter Zadie Schaffer, who is also a Lincoln alum. Dr. Marie Rose Wong, author of Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: The Chinatowns of Portland Oregon gave a talk on Tanner Creek and Portland’s Chinatown. Eric Butler, a restoration expert, included information on the Ecological History of Tanner Creek.

Beyond helping with some mapping for the mural, my other contribution was this short video, Tanner Creek Hidden Hydrology, walking through the history of the area in the context of the historical water. I’ve included the video below:

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Note: This post was originally posted on Substack on 02/28/25 and added to the Hidden Hydrology website on 04/20/25.