GoKawiilFILE - A view down Clarion Alley, where four murals were painted over. John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images
A public arts institution in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District is “heartbroken and furious” after three of its murals were recently painted over and one was “partially destroyed,” according to a Thursday letter from Veronica Torres, co-director of the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP.)
The grassroots organization is responsible for the colorful assortment of panoramic wall paintings stretching a city block wide from Community Thrift on Valencia Street down to the intersection of 18th and Mission Streets. Established in 1992 by a volunteer collective of six artists who were inspired by the mural movement born out of Balmy Alley in the 1970s, the focus of its works range from labor issues to housing rights, memorials and more. More than 700 murals have been created at the site from local artists spanning all ages and levels of experience, according to the organization’s website.
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Clarion Alley Sara C. via yelp
Mission Local first reported news of the erasure last week, noting that on Aug. 24, artist Doug Rhodes, who has a studio on Clarion Alley, saw a man painting over one mural after another. He had reached the fourth when Rhodes spoke up and told him to stop. “My boss told me to,” the man replied, according to Mission Local.
At the time, a representative from the Clarion Alley Mural Project reached out to Makras Real Estate, the company that manages the building, and were told the property owner ordered an employee to paint over reported “graffiti,” Mission Local reported.
“We’ve tried to approach what happened assuming there was no ill intent,” Torres of CAMP wrote in the Thursday letter. “Still, after nearly 35 years of stewarding this alley, we have to ask: How does the erasure of four longstanding community murals happen without any communication with CAMP or the artists involved?”
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