I am reaching out to you as members of the selection panel for the San Francisco Arts/ Commission’s (SFAC) sculpture honoring Dr. Maya Angelou at the site of the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL).
By way of personal introduction, I served on the original 2019 RFQ with colleagues and representatives from the bay area arts community, the Commission for the Status of Women, and the SFPL which resulted in the nomination of Lava Thomas’ proposal Phenomenal Woman. It was a profound honor for all of us to carry the responsibility of such significant and visible recognition of Dr. Maya Angelou’s legacy.
I am equally outraged by the Visual Arts Committee’s (VAC) rejection of our nomination, the mismanagement and abrupt dismissal of the 2019 RFQ, and the reissued 2020 RFQ in which you are now implicated. The blatant disregard of SFAC/VAC legal obligations for transparency in publicly funded art is a reflection of the systemic racism that continues to erase and undermine the work of Black Women while maintaining the false appearance of a tribute in the name of Dr. Maya Angelou.
Across the nation as monuments to white supremacy are literally being toppled and institutions are reckoning with the colonial legacy of injustice, you have the opportunity to stand in solidarity for restorative action. Moving forward with the 2020 RFQ upholds a racist agenda and sends a message of compliance and collusion with the SFAC/VAC’s silencing of Black Women after numerous requests for clarification, accountability and redress went unanswered.
I am inviting you to join the new campaign launched by See Black Women who are demanding interventions be instituted immediately. Please access www.seeblackwomxn.com for more in depth information including previous news articles.
In Solidarity,
Angela Hennessy
Associate Professor Fine Arts | Critical Studies | Graduate Chair, Curriculum Committee California College of the Arts she | her | hers
