Changing the Narrative is a community-based collaborative research project and comics series led by Dr. Kacy McKinney that seeks to change how we talk, think, and teach about homelessness and poverty by building empathy and understanding. This series brings together ten professional artists, ten Portland State University (PSU) students with lived experience of homelessness or housing instability, a PSU-based research team, Street Roots vendors, and the Independent Publishing Resource Center.
Project Artists: Arantza Peña Popo, Christina Tran, Marin Jurgens, Gigi Woolery, Mckensi Payne, Erika Rier, Quinn C. Amacher, Liz Yerby, Mike Bautista, and Valerie W.
Changing the Narrative was first published in 2022. All 6k copies sold out in a matter of weeks through distribution by Street Roots vendors, who earned more than $24,000. The series was then reprinted in 2024. This project received generous support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Marie Lam from Charitable Foundation, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, PSU’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative, and PSU’s Community Engaged Research Academy.
Kacy McKinney (she/they) is a visual artist and independent scholar living in Portland, Oregon. She is Artist/Scholar in Residence at the Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative at Portland State University. She has served on the Board of Directors of Sisters of the Road, and the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC). Kacy holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Washington, as well as a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and Bachelor of Arts in Portuguese from the University of Texas Austin. She completed the Comics Portfolio Program at the IPRC in 2019.
Kacy’s drawings and textile work will also be on display at the VDEN and VSCI Galleries this fall.