For Meech Boakye, choosing to call Portland home is a testament to the city’s depth and creative pull. Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the artist bopped between other Canadian big cities, Brazil, and the American South and Midwest before moving here in 2021. Boakye wasted no time settling in—they cohosted a series of agroecology films with a friend, a project that recently received a grant from the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art to continue through the summer. They’ll also be featured in the citywide art exhibition Converge 45. Collaboration is foundational to their work, as is food. “My connection to food is one of reverence,” they say. “At a baseline, whenever I do things, even if they’re not really related to eating, I like to feed people.”

That sense of care and connection extends into Boakye’s love for summer. Paired with river dips and the energy of people out and about, the season brings them a feeling of abundance: “I love the closeness of myself and everything around me as it grows and kind of fills up the space.”

Place in the city to clear your mind? The Skidmore Bluffs

Favorite mediums to work in? Sculptural, relational work (like feeding people), and writing.

Favorite part of summer? Going to the river with a bag of ripe fruit.

Go-to restaurant for out-of-towners? Luce—and I make them get the farro and parmesan pie.

Food you hate that everyone seems to love? Peanuts, only because of an allergy.

Eternal playlist song? “How Does It Feel” by D’Angelo.

Oregon road trip? Cannon Beach.

Store that’s a well-kept secret? Speck’s Records, or Dustbunny on Mississippi.

Favorite TV show? How To with John Wilson.

Summer dish you love? Pizza with a really colorful salad, à la Cafe Olli or Lovely’s Fifty Fifty.

Who’s your hero? My younger siblings.

Best advice you’ve received? Live life with a sense of wonder, gratitude, and openness.

Worst advice? To resist changing.

Scariest career moment? The opening of one of my first shows. 

Best gift you’ve received? A record player.

What’s your mantra? Change is constant. What matters is how I react to that change. 

What’s a misconception people have about the city? That it’s static, outdated, stuck in a time or culture. 

What excites you about Portland’s future? The growth of the food scene.

Three words that describe Portland? Moss. Mountain. Cherry. 

Three words that describe you? Grateful. Curious. Collaborator.