filipinoculture

8d

One more for #FotoVorschlag
“Öffentliche Kunst” / Public art

Utility boxes in San Francisco, displaying Filipino vocabulary words. Some personal thoughts in the alt text.

#photography #streetphotography #streetart #Filipinoculture #sanfrancisco #philippines

Series of photos showing utility boxes on a city street, displaying flash card-style words in modern Tagalog and ancient Baybayin script, with an accompanying illustration and bordered by patterns inspired by Philippine textiles. This one shows the word “Yakap” (embrace) with a picture of two men hugging.

I’ve called New York home for decades and love my city. But I have to say I felt profoundly SEEN when I visited San Francisco, in a way that I haven’t felt in any other American city and didn’t realize I’d missed and craved. Tagalog translations were matter-of-factly included everywhere, from plaques to museum pamphlets, and even utility boxes in the streets reflected my background and first language. It was as if the entire city, institutionally, was telling me “We recognize the whole of who you are and you are welcome here,” and it shook me to my core. I’m sure Filipinos who actually live there can point out the ways the city falls short of its promise, but this was what I experienced emotionally, and I’ll always be grateful to SF for that.

Second in a series. This utility box features the word “Saranggola” (kite) with an illustration of one.

Third in a series. This utility box features the word “Manok” (chicken) with an illustration of a rooster.

Explanatory text for the utility box art display, which reads:

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 ihe 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. More information here: somcan.org/welivehere

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