Ryan Claypool

Portland, Oregon

To a Land Unknown

I began walking this quiet creek over a year ago and sensed a strangeness that took time to name. I'd leave manicured pathways and walk along the water, surprised by how remote and wild certain places seemed. I'd go so far off trail I'd spook up animals or stumble into encampments. The more time I spent walking through, the deeper my curiosity in the land became.

Fanno Creek is named after Augustus Fanno, who traveled the Oregon Trail and ended here in "New Eden", losing his wife and unborn child along the way. His claim, first in the county, contributed to the displacement of indigenous peoples who lived here for 15,000 years. Later, Fanno drained these wetlands for agriculture, imposing land use rooted in ownership and extraction.

Today, the creek is bordered by corporate, tech, and industrial parks, alongside high and low-income housing developments. Walking through it now, I see these layers not as history alone, but a feeling still present.

This ongoing work is an attempt to understand that feeling and give form to the beliefs and forces that have shaped this land over time.

Made on the ancestral lands of the Kalapuya people.