Check out San Francisco 2000: The Gentrification of Our Livelihoods to see how much CAMP’s Mission neighborhood has changed over the past 16 years with hyper-gentrification and the eviction epidemic. It’s heartbreaking to see so many small neighborhood businesses, community organizations, and community members now gone and replaced with a neighborhood that is unrecognizable in many ways, yet still has roots that are holding strong and digging deeper, including Clarion Alley Mural Project.
The video includes documentation from CAMP co-director Megan Wilson’s project Better Homes and Gardens. In the Spring and Summer of 2000 Wilson created 250 signs, all with the single word Home painted in black against a color background. Within the “H” of each sign a flower was painted. The signs were painted on 1⁄4″ plywood and ranged in size from 12″x18″ to 16″x30″. The signs were distributed in San Francisco to those living on the streets, businesses, and residents. The video documentation is primarily from the Mission District – 16th and Valencia Streets. Better Homes and Gardens used the same multiple-site tactic that advertisers use – placing the single-word message throughout neighborhoods in San Francisco in an effort to raise the consciousnesses of San Franciscans around the timely and critical issue of displacement. The project’s goal was twofold: (1) to heighten awareness around the issues of “home” and (2) to cultivate a dialog within communities and amongst disparate groups.
The video is overlaid by a series of interviews conducted by Megan Wilson and Gordon Winiemko and recordings from SF Supervisors’ Finance Committee, October 2000 with members of San Francisco’s arts community at the time discussing the impact of gentrification brought on by the ‘dotcom boom’ and that has continued ever since, accelerating again since 2010, leaving many more displaced, marginalized and disenfranchised.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO4u7XoN-5Y]
San Francisco 2000: The Gentrification of Our Livelihoods 1.0
Edited by Christopher Statton
“Art Strikes Back!” Performance Series organized by Lise Swenson and Megan Wilson, Mission District, San Francisco, CA, 2000; Music by Sonny Smith; video footage by Lise Swenson, David Lawrence, Gordon Winiemko; and Julie Konop.
“Better Homes and Gardens” Public Works Project by Megan Wilson, San Francisco, 2000; video footage by Gordon Winiemko; edited by Christopher Statton
“We Lose Space / You Lose Culture”
Interviews conducted by Megan Wilson and Gordon Winiemko for the exhibition “We Lose Space / You Lose Culture” at the San Francisco Art Commission’s Grove Street Gallery, 2000.
Interviews and recordings from SF Supervisors’ Finance Committee, October 2000 include:
Nadia King, Photographer, Videographer, Dancer
Michael Med-o Whitson, Co-Director of 848 Community Art Space (now CounterPULSE)
Debra Walker, Artist
David Lawrence, Multi-Media Artist
Jared Kaplan, Dancer, Emerging Choreographer
Keith Hennessy, Co-Founder, 848 Community Art Space (now CounterPULSE)
Trisha Lagaso, Executive Director, Southern Exposure Gallery
Karen Garmen, Book Artist
Peter Rothblatt, Associate Director, Rhythm & Motion Dance Studio
Meg Mack, Artist
Jaime Cortez, Program Manager, Galeria de la Raza; Artist, Writer
Debbie Mink, Dancer, Devilettes
Sonny Smith, Musician, Writer
Jo Kreiter, Dancer, Choreographer, Performer, Flyaway Productions
Benji Whalen, Artist
Nancy McNally, Artist
Megan Wilson, Artist; Grant Writer, Oasis For Girls
Will Johnson, Songwriter, Musician
Krissy Keefer, Co-Founder Wallflower Order (Dance Brigade); Lease-holder, Dance Mission
Geoff Chadsey, Artist, Curator at Southern Exposure Gallery
Rachel Kaplan, Artist; Founder, AARGG (All Against Ruthless, Greedy Gentrification)
Todd Edelman, Artist, Writer; Volunteer, ATA (Artist Television Access)
Katie Barnhill, Dancer
Scott MacLeod, Writer, Performance Artist, Visual Artist
Nicole Hickman, Artist In Education Coordinator, Southern Exposure Gallery, Graduate Student, Stanford University, Cultural Production
Mark Gregory, Musician, 17 Evergreen
Victoria McNichol Kelly, Visual Artist, Actor, Dancer
Aaron Noble, Artist, Co-Founder, Clarion Alley Mural Project
Jill Weinberg Pfeiffer, Artist, Co-Founder, Oasis For Girls
