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Finding aid to Wall + Response: Sixteen Bay Area Poets Respond to Four Walls in Clarion Alley
2021
SFH 667
SFH 667
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Table of contents
Title:
Wall + Response: Sixteen Bay Area Poets Respond to Four Walls in Clarion Alley
Date: 2021 (issued)
Collection Identifier: SFH 667
Creator:
Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) (San Francisco, Calif.)
Physical Description:
30 color screenprints in 1 box (sheets 51 cm x 33 cm ; box 53 cm x 35 cm)
Contributing Institution:
San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library
Abstract:
Wall + Response
is a project of the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) that features 16 San Francisco Bay Area poets' responses to the social,
political, racial, justice narratives of four murals on Clarion Alley, curated by CAMP artist and organizer Megan Wilson and
poet Maw Shein Win.
Physical Location: The collection is stored onsite.
Language of Materials: Collection materials are in English
The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk
hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.
Wall + Response (SFH 667), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, 2021.
[Text quoted from the introduction] "In 2019 CAMP artist and organizer Megan Wilson approached poet Maw Shein Win with the
idea of co-curating a project to bring poets together to respond to a selection of CAMP's murals on Clarion Alley.
In selecting the murals for
Wall + Response,
Wilson reflected on CAMP and its role in the community over the past decade in response to the hyper-gentrification that has
plagued the San Francisco Bay Area. The cultural shift has meant an epidemic of evictions, a significant loss of San Francisco's
American Indian, Black, and Latinx communities; devastating income inequality, an overwhelming number of people who are unhoused,
and a disturbing increase in police violence and fatal shootings of citizens by police.
The four murals selected by artist Megan Wilson for
Wall + Response
exemplify successful collaborations between artists and larger organizing forces to create public works in support of these
collective efforts of resistance and resilience.
Based on the walls selected, poet Maw Shein Win invited Bay Area poets whose practices include social and political engagement,
to respond to the power of resistance reflected in these works.
Wall + Response
was originally conceived to culminate in four quarterly public events to be presented on Clarion Alley in 2020/2021. However,
due to the COVID-19 pandemic the poets were instead filmed by videographer Mahima Kotian and soundperson Evan Karp reading
their work in front of the murals on Clarion Alley. Kotian created videos for each series that were presented as part of free
live online events hosted by CAMP co-director Christopher Statton in collaboration with The Booksmith and The Bindery. The
videos are available for viewing on CAMP's website, ClarionAlleyMuralProject.org.""
The portfolio compliments the videos by creating screenprint broadsides of the murals and poems featured in
Wall + Response. Broadsides were designed by members of the San Francisco Poster Syndicate.
Participants include:
Poets Heather Bourbeau, Aileen Cassinetto, Tongo Eisen-Martin, and Chris Stroffolino responding to the mural
Justice for Luis D. Gongora Pat by artists Marina Perez-Wong and Elaine Chu, working with the Gongora Pat Family and Justice4Luis.org;
Poets Karla Brundage, Jennifer Hasegawa, Tureeda Mikell, and Kim Shuck responding to the mural
What We Want!
by CUBA, Unity/D8, and MACE working with Emory Douglas/Black Panther Party;
Poets Celeste Chan, MK Chavez, Paul Corman-Roberts, and Tim Xonnelly responding to the mural
Affordable Housing/Vivienda Asequible by the SF Print Collective working with the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP); and,
Poets Youssef Alaoui, Jason Bayani, Genny Lim, and Michael Warr responding to
The Arab Liberation Mural/Will to Live
by Art Forces, Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC), and Arab Youth Organizing (AYO).
Limited edition of 50. San Francisco Public Library set is numbered 1/50. Each broadside is signed by the poet or by the poet
and artists.
The screenprints were printed by Sun Night Editions on Cougar Natural Smooth 100# Cover paper. Portfolio designed and built
by Asa Nakata.
Arranged in the original order as received from creators.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Wilson, Megan
Win, Maw Shein
Sun Night Editions
Gentrification -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area -- Poetry
Mission District (San Francisco, Calif.).
Mural painting and decoration, American - California - San Francisco - 20th century.
Political posters -- California -- San Francisco
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.) -- Social conditions -- Poetry
Screen prints
Street art - California - San Francisco.