Lake Oswego dedicates its newest piece of permanent public art on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at the city's public library.

"Echoes of Belonging," created by artist Sahara Aylanna Defrees, confronts the history of racial exclusion in Lake Oswego and the surrounding region. The installation includes interpretive panels and interactive elements that invite conversation about that history and what comes next.

The $31,000 commission grew out of a partnership between the City of Lake Oswego, the nonprofit Respond to Racism and the Arts Council of Lake Oswego (ACLO). The ACLO manages the city's public art program. Respond to Racism, a community-led nonprofit founded in 2017, works to disrupt racism in Lake Oswego and Clackamas County.

Bruce Poinsette, executive director of Respond to Racism, said in an August 2025 press release extending the project's submission deadline that the installation "seeks to create a vision of hope and healing in Lake Oswego by engaging the community with local BIPOC histories and aspirations for the future."

The scarcity of such work in the city is part of what drove the project. In an October 2023 OPB interview, Poinsette estimated there were roughly three pieces of public art in all of Lake Oswego, noting a near-total absence of work by or depicting communities of color. That count may have changed since then.

Defrees, who runs the creative practice Studio Eden, works at the intersection of visual art, design, sustainability and social change. According to the city's event listing, the installation will join the city's permanent public art collection, with the library chosen as its home.

Library Director Melissa Kelly said in the same 2025 press release that the library "welcomes everyone" and called the installation "a visible symbol of inclusion, empowerment and healing."

The dedication caps months of community engagement. On Aug. 6, the same three partners co-sponsored a free conversation titled "Monuments & Memorials" through the Oregon Humanities Conversation Project at the Adult Community Center on G Avenue. That event explored how public monuments shape collective memory.

The original request for proposals opened July 15, 2025, with artist selection scheduled for October 2025. The project was funded at $31,000, covering design, materials, fabrication and installation.

Residents with questions can contact the Arts Council of Lake Oswego at 503-272-1214 or [email protected].