For the women muralists,
who painted, paint and will paint,
and for the neighborhood
Las Muralistas: Our Walls, Our Stories is a 25-minute documentary directed by Javier Briones and edited by Claudia Escobar, in partnership with SFMOMA. The film features women muralists whose works cover the walls of San Francisco’s Mission District. The muralism movement that emerged in the 1970s in the Mission District marked the beginning of a tradition of activism, expression, and community building through public art. Hear from artists Juana Alicia, Smokie Arce, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Elaine Chu, Priya Handa, Yolanda López, Consuelo Méndez, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodriguez and more on their experiences, the impact of femmes in the movement and the effort to make space for future muralistas.
Las Muralistas: Our Walls, Our Stories is a 25-minute documentary directed by Javier Briones and edited by Claudia Escobar, in partnership with SFMOMA. The film features women muralists whose works cover the walls of San Francisco’s Mission District. The muralism movement that emerged in the 1970s in the Mission District marked the beginning of a tradition of activism, expression, and community building through public art. Hear from artists Juana Alicia, Smokie Arce, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Elaine Chu, Priya Handa, Yolanda López, Consuelo Méndez, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodriguez and more on their experiences, the impact of femmes in the movement and the effort to make space for future muralistas.
For the women muralists,
who painted, paint and will paint,
and for the neighborhood
Featured Artists
Juana Alicia
Smokie Arce
Graciela Carrillo
Susan Kelk Cervantes
Elaine Chu
Priya Handa
Yolanda López
Consuelo Méndez
Irene Pérez
Marina Perez-Wong
Patricia Rodriguez
With appearances by
Miranda Bergman
Edythe Boone
Meera Desai
Yvonne Littleton
Director Javier Briones
Producers Erica Gangsei, Myisa Plancq-Graham
Consulting Producer Camilo Garzón
Production
Cinematography Chris Tipton-King
Aerial Cinematography Drew Eckman
Additional Camerawork Myisa Plancq-Graham, Javier Briones, Luca Caponi
Interviewers Myisa Plancq-Graham, Camilo Garzón, Javier Briones, Stephanie Garcés, Natalia De La Rosa
Location Sound Camilo Garzón, Javier Briones
Production Assistant Natalia De La Rosa
Venezuela Unit:
Cinematography Edwin Corona Ramos
2nd Camera Stefania Chehade
Location Sound Gustavo Vera
Editors Claudia Escobar & Javier Briones
Color Grading Chris Tipton-King
Assistant Post Producer Fengxue Zhang
Post-Production Assistant Harmony Baker
Transcription and Translation Celeste Lindahl, Mary Geitz
Subtitles Andrea Valencia
Sound Design Javier Briones
Sound Mixing Dan Olmsted at Berkeley Sound Artists
Archival Film & Video
Ray Balberan – Mission MediaArts Archive
Philip Brookman – UCSB Special Collections
Vicente Franco – Franco Productions
Kristi Lomax – GLBT Historical Society
Ana Montano – Mission Film Workshop
Michael Nolan
John Rogers – Optic Nerve
Archival Photography
Juana Alicia
Susan Kelk Cervantes
Tim Drescher
Irene Pérez
Jim Prigoff
Patricia Rodriguez
Original Score Written by Diana Gameros
Performed by Diana Gameros & Aaron Kierbel
“LOS COLORES”
written and performed by Diana Gameros
License Courtesy of Diana Gameros
“MUJERES MURALISTAS”
written and performed by Diana Gameros
License Courtesy of Diana Gameros
Music Recording and Mixing Adam Muñoz at Opus Studio, Berkeley, CA
SFMOMA Proyecto Mission Murals Team
Noah Biavaschi
Kevin Carr
Sylvia Castillo
Julie Charles
Chad Coerver
Cary Cordova
Kari Dahlgren
Jessica Ruiz DeCamp
Laila E. Dreidame
Erin Fleming
Erica Gangsei
Stephanie Garcés
Santino Gonzales
Tomoko Kanamitsu
Tamara Porras
Melissa San Miguel
Proyecto Mission Murals Community Advisory Board
Juana Alicia
Lydia Chávez
Susan Kelk Cervantes
Cary Cordova
Tim Drescher
John Jota Leaños
Fátima Ramirez
Josué Rojas
Melissa San Miguel
Proyecto Mission Murals Media Advisory Board
Lydia Chávez
John Jota Leaños
Fátima Ramirez
Melissa San Miguel
Extended SFMOMA Team
Paul Armstrong
Deane Brannen-Jurgenson
Maria Castro
Gillian Edevane
Clara Hatcher Baruth
Bosco Hérnandez
Hana Ishijima
Megan Kiskaddon
Julie Lamb
Samantha Leo
Mei Li
Jenn Livermore
Stella Lochman
Lucy Medrich
Christo Oropeza
Caroline Stevens
Anna Tang
Adine Varah
Misty Youmans
Thank You
Malea Chávez
Samantha Curl
Yuka Ezoe
Erin Fleming
Crystal Fuenzalida
Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez
Leticia Huerta
Camille Imbert
Debra Koffler
Ellen Lake
Guarina Lopez
Monica Magtoto
Vero Majano
Ana Montano
Paola Reyes
Sarah Sisken
Acción Latina
Balmy Alley
Clarion Alley Mural Project
El Tecolote
Precita Eyes Muralists
The Women’s Building
Ariana Cortés -Mariachi La Misión
Rodrigo Ehecatl Durán – Carnaval San Francisco
Isaac Fellman – GLBT Historical Society
Paul S. Flores – Paseo Artístico
Special Thank You
Julian Rowand – These Walls Speak Co-Director
Carla Wojczuk – These Walls Speak Co-Director
List of murals in film credits
All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you, 2021
Precita Eyes Muralists, Elaine Chu, Priya Handa, and Marina Perez-Wong, in collaboration with San Francisco General Hospital nurses
Five Sacred Colors of Corn, 1995/2021
Restoration – Precita Eyes Muralists, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez
Latino America, 1974
Mujeres Muralistas, Graciela Carrillo, Ester Hernández, Consuelo Méndez, Xochitl Nevel-Guerrero, Miriam Olivas, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodriguez, Ruth Rodríguez
Para El Mercado / Paco’s Tacos ,1974
Mujeres Muralistas, Graciela Carrillo, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Consuelo Méndez, Miriam Olivas
Las Lechugueras / The Women Lettuce Workers ,1983
Juana Alicia
Te Oímos Guatemala / We Hear You Guatemala, 1984
PLACA, Juana Alicia
La Llorona’s Sacred Waters, 2004
Juana Alicia
MAESTRAPEACE, 1994/2012
Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, Irene Pérez
Untitled, 2021
Bay Baes, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Elaine Chu, Samantha Curl, Yuka Ezoe, Priya Handa, Monica Magtoto, Sarah Sisken
Five Sacred Colors of Corn, 1995/2021
Precita Eyes Muralists, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez
Victorian, 2007
Sirron Norris
The Missing Page from Where the Wild Things Are, 2003
Guarina Lopez
MAESTRAPEACE, 1994/2012
Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, Irene Pérez
Carnaval Mural, 1983/2014
Daniel Galvez, Dan Fontes, Jaime Morgan, Eduardo Pineda, Jan Sheild, Keith Sklar
La Llorona’s Sacred Waters, 2004
Juana Alicia
Presente: A Tribute to the Mission Community Mural, 2015
Precita Eyes Muralists, The Urban Youth Arts Program, Fred Alvarado, Max Marttila
Women in Resistance, 1998
Lucía González Ippolito, San Francisco Poster Syndicate, Adrianna Adams, Lauren D’Amato, Erika Gomez Henao, Yazmin “Shi Shi” Madriz, Sonia “G” Molina, Fernanda Parker Vizcaino, Michelle Williams, Carla Wojczuk
Te Oímos Guatemala / We Hear You Guatemala, 1984
PLACA, Juana Alicia
Justice For Luís D. Góngara Pat, 2018
Twin Walls Muralist Company, Elaine Chu, Marina Perez-Wong
House Keys Not Handcuffs / Llaves De Casa, No Esposas, 2016
Art Hazelwood, Michelle Maren Williams, San Francisco Print Collective, Ronnie Goodman
Silent Language of the Soul, 1990
Juana Alicia, Susan Kelk Cervantes
Tú Eres Mi Otro Yo / You Are My Other Me, 2021
Elizabeth Blancas
Sobreviviremos: A Portrait of Yolanda López and Tribute to the 1969 organizations working toward liberation and self-determination: Los Siete de la Raza, The Black Panther Party, and the Indians of All Tribes, 2021
Jessica Sabogal, Elizabeth Blancas, Paola de la Calle, Bianca Rivera, Shanna Strauss, Malaya Tuyay
Community Spirit and Legacy of Precita Eyes, 2020
Precita Eyes Muralists, Fred Alvarado, Julia Barzizza, Teresa Benson, Xavier Bess, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Elaine Chu, Yoshua Cordoba, George Crampton, Estefanie, Yuka Ezoe, Diego Irizarry, Kiry Luc, Dennis MacKenzie, Marisa Mariscoti, Max Marttila, John Morrow, Noaki Onadera, Jude Pagpaguitan, Henry Sultan, Deirdre Weinberg
La Rumba No Para: The Chata Gutierrez Mural, 2015
Carlos “Kookie” Gonzalez, Precita Eyes Muralists, Walls of Respect – Youth Mural Project, Fred Alvarado, Riya Chandiramani, Juliette Flores, Felipe Hernandez, Jordan Marlow, Max Marttila, Gus Oli Medina, Jesus Rodriguez, Pablo Ruiz, Carmelo V, Nick Winstead
Culture Contains the Seed of Resistance, Which Blossoms into the Flower of Liberation, 1984/2014
Miranda Bergman, O’Brien Thiele
Un Pasado Que Aún Vive, 2004
Joel Bergner
El Inmigrante, 2005
Joel Bergner
New World Tree, 1987
Juana Alicia, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Raul Martinez
Mission Makeover, 2012/2022
Lucía González Ippolito, Tirso Araiza
Frisco Rise, 2022
Mary Claire Amable, Lorenzo Tamayo-Lee
Spirit of the Arts – Carlos Loarca, Betsie Miller-Kusz, Manuel Villamor
Once Upon a Time in The Mission, 2017
Precita Eyes Muralists, Adrianna Adams, Fred Alvarado, Paul de Costa, George Crampton Glassanos, Jovanny Guillermo, Ramiro Guillermo, Max Marttila, The Urbans Youth Arts Class: Siriya Belton, Alyssa De Costa, Erick Lara, Jude Pagpaguitan, Preet, Xochitl Quiroz, Adriel Rozenblum, Anais Velez
Alto al Fuego en La Misión, 2020
Carla Elana Wojczuk, Anna Lisa Escobedo, Lucía González Ippolito, Sonia G Molina, Flavia Elisa Mora, Cristian Muńoz, Pancho Pescador, Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth (HOMEY), Justice4Amilcar Coalition
500 Años de Resistencia, 1992
Isaias Mata
Tribute to Las Mujeres Muralistas and Future Generations, 1995
Precita Eyes Muralists, Barbara DeVane, David Issacson, Keith Lewis, Elba Rivera, Laura Smith
Family Life and Spirit of Mankind, 1977
Susan Kelk Cervantes, Karlos DeMille, Joe Fradella, Frank Fradella, Judy Jamerson, Robert Junti, Maurice Lacy, Tony Parrinello
All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you, 2021
Precita Eyes Muralists, Elaine Chu, Priya Handa, and Marina Perez-Wong, in collaboration with San Francisco General Hospital nurses
Alto Al Fuego / Ceasefire, 1988
Juana Alicia
Golden Market, 2014
Stie Twick, Hagon Free, Jet Martinez, UrbanAztec
La Doña, RESILIENT, 2021
DJ Agana, Robz, Vogue
Latino America, 1974
Mujeres Muralistas, Graciela Carrillo, Ester Hernández, Consuelo Méndez, Xochitl Nevel-Guerrero, Miriam Olivas, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodriguez, Ruth Rodríguez
Para El Mercado / Paco’s Tacos, 1974
Mujeres Muralistas, Graciela Carrillo, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Consuelo Méndez, Miriam Olivas
Fantasy World For Children, 1975
Mujeres Muralistas, Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Méndez, Irene Pérez, Patricia Rodriguez
Las Lechugueras / The Women Lettuce Workers, 1983
Juana Alicia
Carnaval, 1994
Joshua Sarantitis, Carlos Loarca, Emmanuel Montoya,
Humanidad, 1976
Graciela Carrillo
La Lucha Continua / The Struggle Continues, 1985/2004
Susan Greene
Alien Love, Restored-2017
Laura Campos
This film was produced in partnership with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) as part of Proyecto Mission Murals.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
MA-10-19-0250-19.
The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this film do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
