We Live Here
Filipino Americans have been organizing and serving the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) community in the South of Market for over a hundred years. This artwork on utility boxes created by artist Mel Vera Cruz in 2020 is a collaboration with the parents and teachers of the bilingual afterschool program, FEC GALING BATA at Bessie Carmichael and the Filipino Education Center (est. 1969) in the SOMA. This project serves as an example of community empowerment through education in the history of SOMA Pilipinas. The flashcard design is inspired by the bilingual classes available at the FEC GALING BATA Afterschool Program where multicultural children and children of new immigrant families learn both English and Tagalog. The colorful designs on the card are Vera Cruz’s renderings inspired by the indigenous Filipino communities that create the handwoven textile, Hinabi. The flashcard itself shows the current Filipino alphabet, and the Ancient Filipino pre-colonial script, Baybayin. This project pays tribute to the parents, and teachers in the immigrant cultural district in the South of Market who instill vital linguistically and culturally responsive services and resources empowering our youth.
SOMCAN (The South of Market Community Action Network) is proud to lead the project WE LIVE HERE from concept to creation guided by our community planning workshops and our collaborative efforts with FEC GALING BATA parents and teachers and art renderings by artist Mel Vera Cruz.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank and uplift the work of the following - the indigenous Filipino communities that create the handwoven textile, ‘Hinabi’, FEC Galing Bata Parents, Teachers and Students, FADF (Filipino American Development Foundation), Balay Kreative, SFMTA, SFAC, Stanford PASU, Zellerbach Family Foundation, SOMA Pilipinas, Artist Mel Vera Cruz, Consultants Kristian Kabuay, Edwin Lozada and Installers Charlene Tan, Sherwin Rio. Maraming Salamat po!
