Portlandia is a massive copper statue on the face of the Michael Graves–designed Portland Building on SW 5th Avenue, a short walk from Pioneer Courthouse Square. The kneeling female figure — representing the Lady of Commerce from Portland's city seal — was installed in 1985 and has a deliberately ambiguous quality: dignified from a distance, slightly overwhelming up close.
The Portland Building itself is significant architecturally: it was one of the first major postmodern public buildings in the United States when it was completed in 1982, and it divided opinion sharply. The building recently completed a major interior renovation. The statue cannot be missed on any walk through downtown Portland — it dominates the block it faces and is far larger than it looks in photographs.