Sanctuary Art
Here is some not surprising news from the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is embracing its status as a safe haven for immigrants, at a time when the federal government is targeting them, with a multi-year program of art and cultural projects. Organized by the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) and the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs, the series Sanctuary City is a “response to President Trump being elected, and more specifically to the policies he has put forward that directly and negatively impact the country’s immigrant (and by association non-immigrant) communities”, says Maysoun Wazwaz, the commission’s manager of public programs.
The series comes as Trump’s administration is fighting California for blocking state and local police from asking about a person’s immigration status or co-operating with federal immigration officials. San Francisco has had such ordinances since 1989, but California’s governor Jerry Brown signed a state-wide bill last September.
The projects in Sanctuary City take a pro-immigrant stance. Opening this month is a new commission of street posters from the San Francisco-based artist Rodney Ewing, who recreates coldly bureaucratic fingerprint cards that are painted with blasts of color denoting national flags and personalized with stories from local immigrants. “With the current administration, I have had to re-evaluate what it means to be American and a patriot,” reads one.
On 4 May, the artist duo Chris Treggiari and Sergio de la Torre will station their mobile Sanctuary Print Shop at the corner of Valencia and 24th Street, where they will churn out around 400 posters with the public to cover a nearby wall. Launched in 2007, the shop encourages discussions on policy during the silk-screening process.
KJ