History: Autonomous Zone Forward 2020 – Present

Untitled, Keith Secola, 2019

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Selections from the archives of CAMP 2020 – Present:

WALL + RESPONSE:

 

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UNITED TO SAVE THE MISSION

 

 

CAMP became a member of United to Save the Mission in March 2020.

Statement of Purpose

United to Save the Mission (USM) is a coalition of community groups and individuals that protects vulnerable communities against gentrifying forces and narratives and fighting for the Mission neighborhood by leveraging our intersectionality and honoring our interdependence to one another.

We support  and celebrate the livelihoods of American Indian and Latinx cultures, LGBTQ+, working class and immigrant residents, artists, organizing spaces, community-serving businesses, nonprofits, industrial spaces, and unhoused neighbors struggling through the trauma of houselessness.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that most people who live here now, are transplants from other places and countries. We give recognition that San Francisco was first known as Yelamu, home to the Ramaytush Ohlone, the original peoples of this land. We also recognize that identifying the area that is represented by United to Save the Mission; is an area where the Colonizers and Missionaries at the site of Mission Dolores (built on the village site of Chutchui) enslaved many Ohlone and California Native American people where many died as the result of disease and starvation. While Chutchui and other cultural sites throughout the Mission area may not be intact today, these sites are still sacred to the original stewards of this land and to the American Indian Cultural District and it’s community members. No other community group may represent the interest of the Ramaytush Ohlone or the American Indian community.

USM therefore adopts, supports and protects  the following Land Acknowledgement: “We, as members of the “United to Save the Mission” coalition, acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all the peoples who reside in their traditional territory. As guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional Homeland. We wish to pay respects by acknowledging the Ancestors, Elders and Relatives of the Ramaytush Community by affirming their Sovereign Rights as First Peoples.”

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EQUIPTO x DOGG TOWN DRO – FVCK TWELV

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WALL + RESPONSE VIDEOS & EVENTS

SERIES ONE: JUSTICE FOR LUIS D. GÓNGORA PAT  

SERIES TWO: WHAT WE WANT!

SERIES THREE: AFFORDABLE HOUSING / VIVIENDA ASEQUIBLE

SERIES FOUR:  THE ARAB LIBERATION MURAL

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Tú Eres Mi Otro Yo by Elizabeth Blancas

CAMP partnered with San Francisco’s COVID Command Center (CCC) to support a new mural as part of San Francisco’s COVID-19 arts recovery efforts. The mural by artist Elizabeth Blancas delivers a message of safety, love, and hope to the Latinx community, which has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mural was conceived of and painted by Elizabeth Blancas and features large portraits of nationally acclaimed Latinx poet and public speaker, Yosimar Reyes, embracing his Abuelita (grandmother) Mardonia Galeana, an 86-year-old entrepreneur known as Mama Doña. Both figures are wearing masks. Above their heads is the text “Tú Eres Mi Otro Yo,” a line from Chicano playwright Luis Valdez’s well-known poem Pensamiento Serpentino (originally published in 1973). This phrase translates to “you are my other me,” a Mayan philosophical concept that is a central theme in the poem.

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Bangkit Sama-Sama/Together We Rise!

Multidisciplinary works by Bangkit/ Arise Artists

April 2, 2021- June 30, 2021 – U.S.
April 3, 2021 – July 1, 2021 – Indonesia

Artists included:

  • Yogyakarta Indonesia: Nano Warsono, Bambang Toko, Ucup, Vina Puspita, and Hari Ndarvati
  • San Francisco/BayArea: Megan Wilson, Christopher Statton, Kelly Ording, Jet Martinez, Shaghayegh Cyrous, Keyvan Shovir, and Joanna Ruckman

Bangkit Sama-Sama/Together We Rise, featured the works of artists participating in the international exchange and residency Bangkit/Arise between  the San Francisco Bay Area, U.S. and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Bangkit Sama-Sama/ Together We Rise is about the power of resilience and the belief that it is possible to rise together as a critical mass to create a world rooted in compassion, justice, and equity. Whether through deep reflection, social/political commentary, direct action, storytelling, beauty, or humor; these are all strategies for working collectively to heal.

Exhibition: 

Artists’ Talk:

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The World Is On Fire: Mural Unveiling Celebration with Extinction Rebellion

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Wall + Response Print Portfolio

The Wall + Response print portfolio is an edition of 50 portfolios, and is comprised of 15” x 26” poster/print broadsides printed by Sun Night Editions, which includes:

  • An introduction to the project
  • Sixteen signed black and white broadsides featuring a poem (one poem/poet) paired with an image from one of the four murals the poet was paired with to respond
  • Four signed broadsides featuring full-color images of the four murals painted by artists working in conjunction with larger organizing forces and a description of the work
  • The curators’ signed broadside statement, featuring an image of Wall + Response artist/organizer curator Megan Wilson’s “Home/Casa” mural, accompanied by Maw Shein Win’s poem response CLARION CALL
  • Biographies of all participants
  • Colophon signed by Sun Night Editions and Asa Nakata
  • The portfolio box, designed and handmade by printmaker and book artist Asa Nakata

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RIP CUBA, Graffiti Legend and CAMP OG

Thank you by Eleni Balakrishnan for the beautiful tribute:

‘Graffiti Godfather’ Cuba, who found his home in the Mission, dies at 57

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San Francisco Public Library Censors Arab Liberation Mural / Wall + Response Exhibition

After four months of planning, the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) abruptly informed Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) on March 2, 2022, that it would not allow the exhibition Wall + Response  to open without censoring the image of the project’s Arab Liberation Mural. The mural was created by a diverse team of community organizations, artists, and Jewish allies that included Art Forces, the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Arab Youth Organizing, and Clarion Alley Mural Project to express the struggles against racism and xenophobia of Arabs, Muslims, people of color, immigrants, and refugees. Specifically, the mural portrays Arab leaders, thinkers, and journalists who have resisted state violence. Tragically, this theme continues to be timely, as beloved Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli state on May 10, 2022, as she reported on an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin. Read more here.

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Frisco Rise by Claire Amable and Lorenzo Tamayo-Lee

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Myth of 4, a Zamin Project

Myth of 4,  a Zamin Project founded by Shaghayegh Cyrous, and, presented by Clarion Alley Mural Project, showcased new videos and performances by ten Iranian artists based in the Bay Area. Myth of 4 reimagines and recreates our present and future. The participating artists redefined their imaginary worlds, inspired by the four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. The theme of Afsaneye 4/ Myth of 4 blossomed out of a series of conversations between the participating artists in the project.

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The Wind in My Hair / Woman. Life. Freedom.

On November 12, 2022, Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) in collaboration with CCA Center for Art and Public LifeARTogether, and Diaspora Arts Connection presented Women! Life! Freedom! The Wind in My Hairshowcasing art performances, music, murals, and poetry by Iranian artists and allies in the Bay Area and beyond, standing in solidarity with Iranian women and to call for the end of oppression by the state of Iran. Deep respect and honor for those who have put and are putting their lives on the line in the name of women’s/human rights and the end to the treatment of women as second class citizens! 💚🤍❤️
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