MISSION MURALS + LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Both murals have an important line of text honoring the Ramaytush Ohlone people, and I feel compelled to help educate passersby about the original inhabitants of this sacred place with a land acknowledgment. After completing the Mission Dolores Basilica murals, I was invited to paint a wildflower mural on the corner wall across the street from the church on 16th & Dolores. Because I understood the historical significance of this monument to colonialism build by enslaved Native people, and knew the painful history for Indigenous communities, I knew the only right way to proceed was to reach out and talk with people in that community. I reached out and spoke with several Ohlone leaders- from the curator of the Old Mission Dolores who shared his Native wildflower and archeological knowledge, to the most respected leaders from the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone who granted me their blessing in working with Native community on a mural honoring the Indigenous people, plants and animals of the area.
As I continued to connect with more people in the community, I met with two amazing women from the American Indian Cultural District, who shared about their new 'Indigenize SF' campaign to raise visibility and celebrate American Indian culture, history, people and contributions through works of art in the Mission District. I knew the heartbreaking history of course, but had underestimated the continued trauma of Mission colonialism, and the sacred implications of 5000 American Indians buried in the ground beneath our feet. I was so humbled to just listen and learn.
While that mural location we originally connected over didn’t work out, I have continued to collaborate with the American Indian Cultural District over the last couple years and I hope to continue working with the AICD to help open up more mural sites for Indigenous artists in the neighborhood to honor Native contributions. I’m so grateful to be working with our whole community to create more connection through art, and although I am constantly making mistakes along the way, I am learning how to be a better ally in this complicated world.
To educate yourself about the full history of the Mission Dolores Site in San Francisco, start HERE.
For the past 15 years, I have loved living and making art in this wonderful corner of San Francisco, and I am deeply committed to helping make our Mission Dolores neighborhood more creative and more connected. You may have noticed my mural in front of 18 Reasons (next to Bi-Rite Creamery) that incorporated brushstrokes and creative collaboration from over fifty neighborhood Mission kids, or the surreal clouds brightening up the boarded-up doors of the historic Mission Dolores Basilica that I painted in early 2021. I painted these murals to uplift our community, to inspire the children on their way to school, to provide a bit of solace to our unhoused neighbors, and to bring healing and love to this Mission Dolores neighborhood.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
