Ariana Diaz
This public art project is going to be centered around the tension of urban spaces developing around nature and its ecology. One of the most prominent places I think this would be best illustrated is the Financial District of San Francisco. This part of the city has been entirely urbanized and constructed to revolve around the financial capital America has become so close to propagate, and is one of the most concentrated places of Wealth in the United States, and globally as well. What is so striking about this district and San Francisco itself is that it was previously a sight for impoverished and underserved communities to reside, particularly the Chicanx community. Over years, it has turned into a financial hub for some of the most lucrative businesses in the globe, while these communities have been pushed back miles and miles into other parts of the city and further left in poverty and without homes. I believe that this past and future of gentrification is lost on so many of the people currently living in San Francisco, and oblivious to the struggles these communities have faced in context with urban cities and infringing white businesses and authority. This is why I believe the project I will describe will serve as a reminder of the population that still exists in San Francisco not fortunate enough to have the privileges that the Financial District represents, and still remains a part of the history of San Francisco. Chicanx art might typically be centered in their neighborhoods or art spaces, but having a public art project accessible outside of that demographic would have a larger reach to the aims of the Chicanx community in seeking reparations for the gentrification of their city.
Given the current state of public health, this project cannot be created or displayed, but with that, I wanted to create something more imaginative for the proposal. As I stated earlier, San Francisco’s history of gentrification is largely confined only to black and brown neighborhoods, but the intent of this public art project is to make this conversation wider. The proposed art project is to quote from an anti-gentrification coalition in Los Angeles: “Gentrification is not a trend for the ‘woke wide web’ or for the detached subculture of the left to consume, it is a vicious, protracted attack on poor and working-class people. And we are engaging in class warfare that leaves our friends, families, and neighbors, homeless, devastated, deported or dead”. This quote then will be made into a rectangular structural piece, and will stand on its own. There will be an opening at the base so observers can pass through the art and interact with this statement in a way.
Given the current state of public health, this project cannot be created or displayed, but with that, I wanted to create something more imaginative for the proposal. As I stated earlier, San Francisco’s history of gentrification is largely confined only to black and brown neighborhoods, but the intent of this public art project is to make this conversation wider. The proposed art project is to quote from an anti-gentrification coalition in Los Angeles: “Gentrification is not a trend for the ‘woke wide web’ or for the detached subculture of the left to consume, it is a vicious, protracted attack on poor and working-class people. And we are engaging in class warfare that leaves our friends, families, and neighbors, homeless, devastated, deported or dead”. This quote then will be made into a rectangular structural piece, and will stand on its own. There will be an opening at the base so observers can pass through the art and interact with this statement in a way.
Share
