1064 Mission Street, Mercy Housing California
Mercy Housing California, San Francisco, CA, 2023
The goals of the artworks are to enhance the neighborhood, dignify the residents, complement the building architecture, and speak to the cultural diversity of the surrounding community.
Mercy Housing California (MHC) in partnership with Episcopal Community Services commissioned four artists to create art for the public spaces of the building.
Michael Arcega, Past Forward, 2023
Stainless Steel gate and lanterns
Past Forward comes as the SOMA Filipino Cultural District develops its visual markers and Mercy Housing supports the marginalized community. Gateway is subdivided by textile patterns from the three main regions of the Philippines: Luxon, Visayas and Mindanao. The mirror-polished stainless steel reflects the viewer and their surroundings.
Leah Rosenberg, Pasalubong Passage, 2023
Benches and Tables
The colors of the benches and tables are found in plant life and food found in Filipino/Tagalog cultures. The benches and tables in the shape of boxes refer to the mapagbigay attitude of generosity and the tradition of pasalubong (welcome gifts) which are often sent in boxes called the “Balikbayan boxes”
Rosana Castrillo Diaz, This Bird” (Title from a Jarvis Jay Masters Experience), 2023
Film on glass
Rosana’s wish is “the neighbors and pedestrians using Stevenson Street can have a moment of lightness as they walk by flocks of birds in the sky, flying at street level.”
Dave Young Kim, Mercy, Justice and Respect, 2023
Three murals that work as stand-alone images or a unified one, two murals together represents a young Filipino girl making a wish, paying homage to Filipino culture but universally the idea of having a child-like hope, wishing for good into the future.