AMANDA LYNN’S STREET WOMEN

Nobody paints women on the streets of San Francisco like Amanda Lynn… her women are just as mysterious, sexy and feminine as they are delicate and strong; and as mythical and fantastical as they are real and grounded.  Yet they remain as sexy and playful as they are independent and unpredictable... sophisticated street ladies of day and night that glow by sunlight, moonlight and street light.  And did I say sexy?

Lynn’s murals can be found all over The City, but there’s a healthy concentration of her works in the Duboce/Valencia area well worth the 3-block stroll north from the 16^th Street BART Station.

On the corner of Valencia and Duboce Avenue, Lynn’s “Sultry Sins” stands out even in fog and heavy traffic. A short block away on Clinton Park, across from the White Wall is one of my favorite Street Art Woman of all time, maybe because she looks ready to start flapping to the sounds of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five…  

Further down the street and away from Valencia are various other murals that make Clinton Park a legitimate street art gallery of note.

Back on Duboce and Valencia, and a half-block down towards Mission Street, tucked into a fenced parking lot is a major collaboration with Lady Mags… Flora N Fauna seems to change colors according to the light of day and is worth experiencing in person even when the lot is full.

On 18^th Street near Mission, “Sunday Flamenco” (top) reigns over its locality like royalty over the old world, and I can’t imagine that wall with anything else on it even though I know I photographed it before the dancer appeared.

There are other Lynn murals in the area… one on Florida between 18^th and 17^th and a smaller piece on Alabama and 22^nd Street.  

Then there’s the one on Florida between 17^th and 18^th Street.

Further north, on Mission and 9^th, in the South of Market District, is the gorgeous “Finer Things.” I heard somewhere that this corner will succumb to the “construction” disease going around The City, so if you want to see this in person, you better get there soon.

SF Mural Arts lists a total of 38 murals by Amanda Lynn. Of those, 11 are no longer available due to unexplained mural-death, and of the 27 that remain I’ve photographed 16… and counting.

Most the Amanda Lynn murals that I’ve captured so far are featured in the graffitisf.com Amanda Lynn Gallery.

The Immigrant

I stumbled upon Joel Bergner’s “El Inmigrante” (23^rd Street at Shotwell) by accident, and was immediately struck by how much it resembled my family’s story. Even the accidental shadow that falls tragically between the man and the woman, emphasizing optimism and reluctance, seemed to speak to the question of leaving what you know for what you wish.

The children seemed stuck in some sort of disbelief, as had my sister and I, watching other children play, perhaps concerned about what they might actually find in the big US of A.

These and similar thoughts had been the furthest thing from my mind as I approached 23^rd Street from Shotwell… and as the mural became larger to my field of view, my family’s journey to our “new world” became a vivid memory. 

Even though we came together as a family, many Cuban families were separated. Some forever.

And yet it’s clear that Bergner’s mural isn’t about the big empire and the little country that could… but about what all immigrants face and what they leave behind… The hidden fear, as seen in the woods, beneath the window, is the same fear all immigrants face at one time or another.

In time we’d discover that many of the things that were once natural to us now seemed a little alien and distant (perhaps as reflected in the man’s closed eyes) even if and when we recalled them fondly.

For me, that boogeyman hiding in the woods is a reminder that for 600 years empires have always had their eyes on Cuba… for others it could be the Immigration Department, or just the unknown…

Bergner’s mural reveals a sense of urgency that many immigrants will recognize. Discovering the mural unexpectedly, as I did, forced me to review my history and wonder about what might have been...  What if we had stayed in Cuba? What if the embargo had ended when it should have, right after the fall of the Soviet Union?

I’m not sure these reflections would have emerged in a traditional art palace after paying the fee and stepping through the metal detectors… and wondering through room after room of priceless art in pricey art frames…

About two blocks away I was then struck with an image of Cuba’s José Martí (“The Struggle Continues” by Susan R. Greene – 23^rd at Mission) that suddenly made me review the island’s long and heroic history… with black and white fighting together for self determination and independence.