Clarion Alley Confronts a Lack of Concern

http://solidarity-us.org/atc/192/p5174/
Date Written:  2018-01-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23279

Clarion Alley's thought-provoking, provocative, clever and often political art was created by those determined to leave a record of their existence and experience and to give voice to marginalized and disenfranchised communities.

Abstract: 
-----

Excerpts:

Some murals depict hope and joy, fantasy and whimsy; some depict anguish, chaos and pain and tales of a turbulent past; some are wonderfully irreverent and some are almost seriously spiritual. The majority of them inspire and encourage us to look for solutions to the multi-problematic issues increasing in this neighborhood, in the rest of the Bay Area and beyond and remind us of what it is to be human and humane.

The term "graffiti" often conjures up images of vandalism and/or the mindless destruction and defacement of property. It often elicits anger in local populations who call for it to be immediately expunged or painted over.

Here, the collective artwork has enhanced the urban landscape and often instilled respect and awe in those lucky enough to see it. Perhaps even more importantly, it offers an ever-changing educational portrait offering both a realistic understanding of the past and present and a hopeful, get-engaged-now picture of the future in this possibly disappearing multi-ethnic, multilingual neighborhood.

Here the street art is being used as a consciousness-raising tool, a tool for economic, cultural, social and political communication, resistance and activism and community celebration. Here it is a legitimate force for good and one of the few remaining ways the suppressed and subjugated, and those supporting them, have to respond to their surroundings in an expressive public way.

-----