This page is dedicated to research and documentation of the Portland elk(s) – the physical statues and the imagery of the elk as a protest icon.

The Elk Fountain

Below is an in-progress javascript timeline of the elk fountain’s history created with Google Sheets and Timeline.js from Northwestern University’s Knight Lab. There are currently broken links, missing context, and significant lack of alt text in the original posts it is built from so please consume with caution!

If you would rather open in a separate window, copy or click the following link: https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=184BQ_0Y6ZHLxC0PR4sMqsznyUaXyaWHtCXDi5yJ6TOY&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

The Nightmare Elk Statue

In response to the removal of the iconic elk, an anonymous artist installed a welded metal sculpture that the protest community came to call “the nightmare elk”. This depiction of the creature was much more visceral and had a protruding tongue, skeletal head, and much larger stature than the previous inhabitant of the curb.