Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Artist, writer, and educator Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik told KALW’s Jen Chien about three great arts events happening around the Bay this weekend.
- All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 at the Oakland Museum of California all weekend.
- Closing reception of ¡Gentromancer! at the Juan R. Fuentes Gallery on 10/14.
- SOMA Pilipinas Art Gathering at the Bayanihan Community Center on 10/17.
On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, the exhibition All Power to the People at the Oakland Museum of California provides a contemporary view of the Panthers and their aims to serve oppressed people and fight injustice.
SITA BHAUMIK: I hear a lot about ... both how powerful this history is and how invisible this is.
“¡Géntromancer!” is the brainchild of muralist Josué Rojas. It's a multidisciplinary exhibition using community literary voices and visual art to tackle the subject of gentrification, especially in the Mission. The event will feature an artist's talk facilitated by Paul S. Flores, music by Chulita Vinyl Club, and a reading featuring the poets whose writings are included in the exhibit.
SITA BHAUMIK: It's so layered, and so rich, and I just love the way he's brought in community.
This is a meeting at the Bayanihan Community Center in San Francisco to talk about the future of Filipino arts in the SOMA neighborhood. Earlier this year, the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural Heritage District was created, and this meeting is one in series of community events about what this district could mean to the Filipino community throughout the Bay Area.
SITA BHAUMIK: It's specifically a call for Filipino artists of all artists ... to think about the deep and long and incredible history of the Filipino community in SOMA.
