2025 Art on Market Street Poster Series

The 2025 Art on Market Street Poster Series will showcase the over 30 year history of the Art on Market Street Poster Series. The works are curated through a lens of “People, Places, and Things,” reflecting historical events, notable individuals, everyday people, art, and architecture that are significant to San Francisco’s cultural and physical landscape. This project intersects with the continued work of SFAC’s Shaping Legacy program by calling attention to underrepresented communities and overlooked histories.

*Rigo 98 (1994): Chess Players from the series "Market Street Tales."  
 

 

*Kara Maria (2003): "Boom Town" depicted bold, graphic designs of pedestrians and objects typically seen on San Francisco’s main thoroughfare. 

 

 

Maria Forde (2005): "The Pickpocketers" – A historical exploration of 19th-century female pickpockets who operated along Market Street, drawing from mugshots and personal histories to illuminate their struggles in underground economies. "Rose Cady," 2005. "One of the old Grant Ave. pickpockets; her victims were all married men."  
 

 

*Felecia Carlisle and Jessica Hobbs (2005): "The Wedding Portraits Series" honoring the first anniversary of gay marriages held at City Hall. Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were a lesbian couple, who were politically and socially active in San Francisco, beginning in the 1950s and were the first couple married by Gavin Newsome at City Hall in 2004. 



 

Helena Keeffe (2007): "Muni Maps" – A collaborative project with Muni drivers that highlights their personal experiences and landmarks along their routes, offering a unique perspective on San Francisco’s transit system. "F Market," 2007.

"I have one regular passenger who is an airline pilot and the first time he rode with me on the F line, I remember he said. 'You know I have ridden a lot of street cars in my life but no one drives them as smooth as you.' and that was the beginning of a friendship. So he travels the world and when he comes back to the Bay Area, he spends part of the day riding the F line with me." 
 

*Owen Smith (2008): Homage to Dashiell Hammett and the pulp fiction classic "The Maltese Falcon," which helped define San Francisco as an iconic American city in the noir tradition,

 

 

*Jonathan Burnstein (2010): "Meet Market: Portraits of the Street" were intricate collage portraits of the visual environment of Market Street and its intersections of San Francisco’s social, cultural, and economic strata.


 

 

Deborah Aschheim (2017): "The Zeitgeist" – Revives the vibrant spirit of the 1967 Summer of Love, capturing the era's cultural revolution. Mother and Child, Free Huey Rally, De Fremery Park, Oakland (after Ruth-Marion Baruch), 2017. The Black Panther Party formed in Oakland in 1966 demanding an end to oppression of African Americans, and calling for housing, education, jobs and justice. 

 

Kate Haug (2017): "Summer Love Trading Cards" – Re-imagines the iconic trading cards from the 1967 Summer of Love, blending nostalgia with contemporary art. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, 2017. Reverend Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani transformed Glide Memorial Church into a sanctuary for the disenfranchised, following Williams’ 1967 decree, “We all must be the cross.”



 

Sofia Cordova (2018): "A Body Reorganized" – Explores themes of refuge and belonging within urban spaces, and reflects on How the Meaning of Sanctuary Has Evolved Over Time. "Untitled." 2018. "A Mexican immigrant from Villahermosa. A gardener who misses the sea. He listens to reggaeton and bachata on his phone. His daughter was recently sick back home. He hasn't seen her in 15 years."

 

 

Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo (2019): Renders the Unheard Stories of Market Street. The San Francisco Arts Commission’s 2019 Market Street Poster Series examines 24/7 life on the city’s largest and most colorful boulevard. "David Brooks at Hospitality House," 2019.  Hospitality House is a free of charge arts studio and gallery, located at 6th and Market Street, open to all artists and neighborhood residents whose socio-economic struggles would otherwise prevent them from accessing these materials and resources. David Brooks is an incredibly whacky storyteller and experience gatherer, whose artistic practice has blossomed thanks to the support of the Hospitality House.


 

Marcel Pardo Ariza (2020): “Kin-Streets” explores intergenerational kinship in San Francisco queer communities. The 2020 Art on Market Street Poster Series Highlights San Francisco’s Queer Culture for the 50th Anniversary of Gay Pride. "The Transgender District," 2020. Featuring Spring Collins, Aria Sa'id, Janelle Luster. Kin-Streets is a love letter to the LGBTQIA+ Bay Area community in the midst of 2020. This photographic public art project in San Francisco’s Market St honors and celebrates trans-historical kinship, tenderness, resilience, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and the 54th Anniversary Compton's Cafeteria Riots.


 

Win Mixter (2020): "Pride is a Protest" – A series honoring the roots of Pride celebrations, emphasizing resistance and community activism. "José Sarria," 2020. José Julio Sarria is the epitome of the San Francisco queer icon. He was outspoken, he blurred the boundaries of gender, he was politically active and influential, and he was uncompromisingly true to himself. 

 

Kimberley Acebo Arteche (2021): "It Wasn't Only a Hotel" – Pays tribute to the women of San Francisco's Manilatown and their fight against displacement. "Asun, You are still Here," 2021 Asuncion Panlibuton: An original defender of the I-Hotel, social worker, and activist whose work was instrumental to notifying the city of San Francisco of the dire conditions that the Manongs lived in. When the residents of the I-Hotel were finally evicted, Asuncion founded care homes so the Manongs could have somewhere safe and caring to move into. She organized senior care homes for over 30 years, and her work paved the way for more low-income senior housing.

 

Skywatchers (2021): "The Opulence Project" – Invites Tenderloin community members to envision and embody their boldest aspirations through striking portraits. "Dr. Dreame, SuperTrans," 2021, Dr. Dreame is SuperTrans, a superhero fighting transphobia on our streets! 

 

*not reprinted for this installation but shown here to highlight the breadth and depth of the over 30 year history of the Art on Market Street Poster Series.