Today, my friend and I bundled up and went on a Mission treasure hunt created by local artist Mabel Negrete. At 14th and Valencia, we found Mabel’s table and where she proceeded to arm us with a disposable camera and a map of 15 destinations written in both Spanish and English.
Over the course of several hours ( half-way through we took a detour to the Crafticon at Modern Times) we zig-zagged back and forth over the blurry line of gentrification between Mission and Valencia Street hunting down historical and social landmarks.
We took pictures of the gates of the armory building which sparked a huge debate between sex workers and community organizations when it was sold to kink.com (I included the button from my friend’s bag saying, ’sex work is real work’ in the picture). We paused on the corner of 17th and Valencia to imagine what the area looked before the Lake of our Lady of Sorrows was filled in to become the popular shopping destination that is Valencia Street. When we took pictures of the future condos that will stand on Mission and 18th, we tried to capture the way the bare pipes and scaffolding made the construction site look like a prison.
The treasure hunt was a brilliant hands-on collaboration and dialog with artist and audience through the social issues ever so present in this beloved neighborhood. Personally, I was both educated and given the opportunity to also creatively express my anger about the gentrification of this neighborhood. It was also a really fun way to spend a beautiful fall Saturday outside.
http://www.thecounternarrativesociety.org/
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