The Window Project: a public art installation
2025-08-01 00:00 - 2026-05-31 23:59 (America/Los_Angeles) | Galería de la Raza Studio 16, 2840 16th St. (corner of 16th St. and Shotwell St.), San Francisco, California, 94103, United States
Galería de la Raza presents The Window Project in collaboration with Professor Sergio de la Torre’s Spring 2025 class “Artist as Citizens” at the University of San Francisco (USF).

The Window Project is designed to foster a sense of inclusion and representation by incorporating topics of conversation that shape the Mission District and its residents. In their design, the students of “Artist as Citizens” examine topics such as immigration, remittances, street vendors, and cultural pride while including localized elements unique to the neighborhood such as maps, photography, quotes, and information on individual rights. This design incorporated additional collaborations with students from Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School and the “Performing Arts and Social Justice” class at USF taught by Professor Roberto Gutièrrez Varea to include the perspectives of those living in the neighborhood.

Welcome. Bienvenidos. This is your window into the Mission.

Utilizing the large fourteen foot windows, The Window Project is on public view at Galería’s Studio 16. For a brief time, you can take a closer look at the details that make up this design at Galería’s Studio 24 that include the following elements:

Student Street Photography: Featuring real-life images that capture the energy and diversity of the Mission District through the eyes of students.

Know Your Rights Information: Highlighting resources and knowledge crucial to immigrant communities.

Quotes from Residents: Compiled by Professor Varea’s “Performing Arts and Social Justice” class, these quotes provide authentic voices from within the district.

Maps and Artistic Elements: These visually narrate the district’s cultural and physical landscape.

The Window Project reminds us what makes this neighborhood special, and what it takes to care for the diverse voices and experiences that create the Mission District.

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

The Window Project at Galería’s Studio 16 (2840 16th St. San Francisco, CA 94103)

On view: Our Language, Our Story
2025-10-18 00:00 - 2026-01-31 23:59 | Galería de la Raza Studio 24, 2779 Folsom St. Suite A, San Francisco, California, 94110, United States
Galería de la Raza presents Our Language, Our Story, a powerful photographic exhibition by artist Joyce Xi in collaboration with the Asian Law Caucus. Through striking portraits and deeply personal narratives gathered from immigrants across the Bay Area, the exhibit asks: What does it mean to be seen, heard, and understood in the language of your heart?

Conceptualized in 2023, this project was initially created to document immigrant experiences and highlight the need for language access in everyday life. Expanding from the first six stories exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2024, the project now encompasses more than 20 cultures throughout the Bay Area that are reflected through their language and stories. In today’s political and social climate, this body of work celebrates and centers the fullness of these community members and leaders; friends, family, elders, neighbors, co–workers, teachers, entrepreneurs, artists, students, vendors, and people of faith. Together, they represent the backbone of our communities and an essential part of our social fabric. These images highlight the deep relationships we foster, and the joys and hardships immigrant communities face living in an English-dominant society.

Over several months of interviews and visits to community centers, family celebrations, neighborhood hangouts, and organizing meetings, Xi built relationships with these individuals and listened to their aspirations, struggles, dreams, love, and resistance. Visitors are encouraged to consider the experiences of immigrants and refugees by reading their stories, listening to their language, and witnessing their day to day lives. Our Language, Our Story affirms that language is far more than a means of communication. It is a vessel of memory, a source of cultural continuity, and a powerful assertion of self. To speak in your native language is to resist erasure, to demand dignity, and to claim space.

“Language helps you identify your people in a new place, it fills your ears with familiar warmth.”

– Alejandra Oliva, Rivermouth

Read the individual stories featured in the exhibition below.

Booklet_FINALDownload

Bay Windows: Illuminating Immigrant Women’s Perspectives
2025-12-05 00:00 - 2026-03-11 23:59 | Galería de la Raza Studio 24, 2779 Folsom St. Suite A, San Francisco, California, 94110, United States
Logo by Christine Wong Yap.

Galería de la Raza is proud to partner with artist Christine Wong Yap to present Bay Windows: Illuminating Immigrant Women’s Perspectives from December 11, 2025 through March 11, 2025, a decentralized public art display featuring fifteen sculptural lanterns. The lanterns will be exhibited in the storefronts of five community-facing organizations in Chinatown and the Mission District. Each lantern is based on a papercut by a working-class, Chinese or Latina immigrant woman with limited English proficiency and limited access to the arts. Their imagery conveys narratives at the intersection of lived experience and social and political issues—including immigrant’s rights, worker’s rights, the cost of living, affordable housing, public safety, and mental health—as well as what the women have done or could do to address those issues.

The lanterns are the culmination of Bay Windows / Ventanas en saliente / 窗花, a trilingual, cross-cultural social practice project led by Yap, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. For this project, Yap received a 2025 Creative Capital Award, as well as additional support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and others. This is Yap’s second project engaging this multigenerational cohort of women. Her first, in 2023, was the first contemporary art project in the history of the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, which dates back to the 1850s.

Each lantern will be accompanied by a trilingual statement by its designer, along with a link to a subtitled video interview, so that audiences can see and hear the participant speaking in her native language about what her papercut represents and how the process was for her. By creating and displaying lanterns and papercuts, Yap aims to bridge the two largest immigrant groups in San Francisco, who together comprise nearly 40% of the City’s population.

In addition to the lanterns—which will be visible for free to passersby 24/7 for three months—Galería de la Raza is slated to host a display about the project in its foyer beginning in December 2025, while the original paper cuts will be shown at the Chinese Culture Center’s Design Store starting in January 2026.

Yap, the five partner organizations, and the 15 collaborating designers will co-host a free scavenger hunt during the day on Saturday, January 24, 2026 between 11 am and 2pm. On that day, the public will be invited to visit the 15 lanterns for the chance to win prizes.

ABOUT THE LEAD ARTISTChristine Wong Yap (she/her) is a visual artist and social practitioner who gathers and amplifies grassroots perspectives on belonging and mental well being. Her project, “How I Keep Looking Up / Como Sigo Mirando Arriba / 仰望,” resulted in the first contemporary art project in the history of the 150-year-old San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.

COLLABORATING DESIGNERSAiLan Xie 謝愛蘭, Cammi XingYu Huang 黃幸瑜, ChunMei “Amay” Cao 曹春梅, DanLi Xu 許丹麗, Lidia “Lupita” Iraheta, Marcela Escamilla, Mayra Alfaro, MiaoFen Guan 關妙芬, Nadia Rodriguez, Selina Luo 羅玉蓮, Tomasa Ramirez, YongYu “Ah Yu” Lei 雷泳瑜, YongYu “Yoyo” Situ 司徒咏瑜, YuJuan “Ah Juan” Chen 陳玉娟, Yurisma Gonzalez

MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROMCreative CapitalZellerbach Family FoundationNational Endowment for the ArtsA Blade of GrassAsian, Inc.

On view: The Living Altars by Ivan Lopez
2026-01-30 00:00 - 2026-03-31 23:59 | California
Galería de la Raza is proud to present The Living Altars by ReGen Artist Fund grantee, Ivan Lopez. The Living Altars is a public art project consisting of six outdoor sculptures inviting our Mission community to pause, reflect, and contribute by interacting with the sculpture in a public space. Rooted in the belief that words and images have the power to shape our dreams, our healing, and the future of our neighborhood, visitors can engage with the accompanying medicinal plant and can contribute to the shared journals at each sculpture. Over time, the altar becomes a living archive—a collective vision built from the hopes, dreams, and voices of our neighbors. The six sculptures are stewarded by local businesses along Mission Street to encourage the public to reflect on their relationship with the commons, public space, and community.

Visit each sculpture on Mission Street and contribute to the shared journals! Follow the map above for a self-guided tour of the project.

ReGen Artist Fund: The Living Altars Sculpture Walk
2026-01-30 15:00 - 17:00 | California
Galería de la Raza is proud to present The Living Altars by ReGen Artist Fund grantee, Ivan Lopez. The Living Altars is a public art project consisting of six outdoor sculptures inviting our Mission community to pause, reflect, and contribute by interacting with the sculpture in a public space. Rooted in the belief that words and images have the power to shape our dreams, our healing, and the future of our neighborhood, visitors can engage with the accompanying medicinal plant and can contribute to the shared journals at each sculpture. Over time, the altar becomes a living archive—a collective vision built from the hopes, dreams, and voices of our neighbors. The six sculptures are stewarded by local businesses along Mission Street to encourage the public to reflect on their relationship with the commons, public space, and community.

Join us on a sculpture walk on January 30th to launch the project and visit all six altars in the neighborhood. A celebration follows at Artillery Ceramics at 2751 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110.

Closing Reception & Artist Talk
2026-01-31 13:00 - 16:00 | Galería de la Raza Studio 24, 2779 Folsom St. Suite A, San Francisco, California, 94110, United States
Our Language, Our Story & The Window Project

Join us for an afternoon in conversation with Our Language, Our Story in dialogue with The Window Project – two powerful visual art projects that center immigrant voices, community wisdom, and collective resilience.

This conversation brings together artists and collaborators to celebrate these projects while engaging in an important dialogue on immigration, language accessibility, and the lived experiences of migrant communities. Joyce Xi and Sergio de la Torre will be joined by guest speaker Winnie Kao from the Asian Law Caucus to reflect on how art can amplify voices, build understanding, and inspire meaningful action.

RSVP by clicking the button below. Please note, seating is limited. Seating priority will be given to early arrivals, elders, and people with disabilities.

RSVP HERE

About the Projects

Our Language, Our StoryPresented by Galería de la Raza in collaboration with photographer Joyce Xi and the Asian Law Caucus, Our Language, Our Story is a call toward a more inclusive future. The exhibition honors the insight, strength, and lived experiences shared by community members whose stories shape the Bay Area.

The Window ProjectAs you visit, we also invite you to also make a pit stop by Galería’s Studio 16, where The Window Project remains on view for a limited time.You won’t want to miss the stunning window displays filled with powerful photographs and bold artwork. This project serves as an accessible community hub—offering know-your-rights information alongside stories of immigration, remittances, street vending, and cultural pride.

The Magnolia Tree Gazing: A Celebration of Queer Poetics Anthology Launch and Reading
2026-02-07 16:00 - 19:00 | Galería de la Raza Studio 24, 2779 Folsom St. Suite A, San Francisco, California, 94110, United States
Galería de la Raza is excited to invite you to the launch of The Magnolia Tree Gazing: A Celebration of Queer Poetics Anthology by ReGen Artist Fund grantee Lourdes Figueroa.

The Celebration of Queer Poetics Anthology Project is a poetry anthology and workshop series reflecting the diverse queer voices forming Bay Area Literary Landscape. This artisan made book grew from a six-week generative poetry workshop crafted by Lourdes Figueroa in the Mission District, focusing on bipocx queer poetics offering a tender space to explore and create poetry. The printed anthology is a collaboration between Lourdes Figueroa, The Celebration of Queer Poetics Workshop, and Murciélago Prensa, Cinthia Marisol Lozano Garcia Amaya.

Join us for a night of love and ternura to celebrate the first volume of this anthology and hear the work created by workshop poets Juju Martinez, María Esquinca, Maribel Martínez, Melí Gómez, Michelle Ngô, and Zander Moreno.

The AO Series - Alexa Treviño & Anthony Jimenez
2026-03-07 00:00 - 2026-05-09 23:59 | Galería de la Raza Studio 24, 2779 Folsom St. Suite A, San Francisco, California, 94110, United States
Galería de la Raza is proud to present Part One of The AO Series, the first installment of a three-part exhibition celebrating the culmination of the ReGen Artist Fund Cohorts 1 and 2.

The AO Series represents a significant investment in San Francisco’s creative arts sector, directly funding 15 artists and regranting $250K over the past two years. This series highlights the work of six grantees, offering the public an opportunity to experience the depth, regenerative spirit, and at times collaborative nature of each artist’s completed body of work.

These projects were made possible through the ReGen Artist Fund, a small grants program that pairs financial support with professional development. In addition to funding, participating artists receive training in grant writing and program planning, equipping them to develop competitive proposals for future opportunities. The fund is as much a commitment to artistic growth as it is to community investment. Encouraged to think critically about how art can reshape societal narratives, these artists examine their roles as cultural bearers while addressing stories and perspectives often overlooked in today’s politically charged climate.

Through exploring portraiture through traditional painting and technology, in this series, artists Alexa Treviño and Anthony Jimenez explore how we carry and honor family and community, memories, and place.

Join us in celebrating the kick off of The Artist Oeuvres

Opening

Saturday, March 7, 2026

7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
