Spiritual Infrastructure
An Homage to Acts and Artworks that Infuse Our Cities with Meaning
Written by Pam Uzzell
Spencer Wilkinson’s film Alice Street is the only “living and breathing document to show what was there.” This solemn pronouncement by curator and moderator Robin Abad Ocubillo captures both the poignancy and the power of this film that tells the story of a mural on Alice Street in Oakland. This piece of public art was a result of deep listening to the ancestors, a powerful demonstration of artist and community cooperation, and an homage to the culture and history of a place and its people, resulting in a mural that deeply resonated with the community in which it stood. Then, the economic forces of development resulted in the erasure of this work. A new development has completely covered the mural. This film, and the panel for this program, tell the story of how, even in the face of loss, positive policy changes and coalitions were achieved in a way that can only be attributed to spiritual resilience. Abad Ocubillo attributes the coinage of the term “Spiritual Infrastructure” to the artist Ben Davis, with whom Robin has worked.
As the film opens with the poetry performance from harpist and composer Destiny Muhammad, it was fitting that the discussion begin with a musical performance from Muhammad. The discussion serves as an opportunity to reach a deeper understanding of how public art projects can express and reinforce the spiritual infrastructure of place and community. The spiritual energy of this type of project doesn’t simply disappear, even if the resulting art can no longer be seen.
Wilkinson’s idea to make this film came organically. He was living on Alice Street. “I heard that the muralists were going to be starting a project, literally blocks from where I was living.” Both his proximity to the mural project and the muralists’ engagement with the Molonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, a cultural hub and energetic source for the neighborhood, inspired him to make the film. In the process, he learned more about Hotel Oakland, the other cultural touchstone of the mural project and its role as a gateway to Oakland Chinatown. As downtown Oakland changed, the story of the film evolved, coming to reflect the forces that would play a role in the fate of the mural, and also expand the story to include the impacts of gentrification on the arts community in Oakland.
When discussing the process of planning the content and design of the mural, Desi Mundo, a muralist and Director of the Community Rejuvenation Project, says that the amount of community engagement went much deeper than he and his partner had ever done because of the spiritual infrastructure that already pervaded the area. “You don’t just walk into a space that has a strong spiritual residence and start messing around because you don’t even understand all of the forces at work.” He adds that much of the public art that is part of new development in Oakland has no connection with the community that is there. This “sanitization” of art is a negative aspect of development that he is noticing in Oakland. The process of sanitization kills everything. “Now you have these pockets of Oakland that are dead zones for culture, for spirituality,” says Mundo.
Pancho Pescador, the graffiti artist and the second muralist involved in the Alice Street mural, describes “coming with open ears and the highest respect” as a way to engage with the community around this mural. Originally from Chile, when he was growing up in the ’80s, a lot of art was banned, essentially eliminating any type of spiritual infrastructure. Being a part of murals and other street art has given him the sense of being a part of something. This left him with a sense of responsibility to create something that builds on the community and culture of a place.
Muhammad describes how Mundo and Pescador were able to capture the spirit of the past as well as guidance of where we need to go, like a “modern-day hieroglyphic.” She observes that nothing new can flourish without acknowledging the past. “One of the things that is very important is the ability to tell the story and the overlapping of the communities that are here,” says Muhammad. Mundo and Pescador respected what was there first; the culture and history of the communities and the arts practiced there and acknowledged them with the mural, in a way that mayors and other officials haven’t.
One example of change brought by the mural’s creation and subsequent concealment was a policy change in the form of Community Benefits Agreements with developers. Among other things, these CBA’s created funds to fight displacement. Lailan Sandra Huen, community activist and organizer, describes the timing of the mural as significant in terms of gentrification and the threat of displacement that was happening in the city of Oakland. The mural became a rallying point that enabled unified organizing around developments, not only in the neighborhood around the mural but across the city of Oakland. For her, the timing of the film comes at an important moment as well, in light of the recent heightening of tensions between the Black and Asian communities. It presents a way to explore historical parallels between the two communities, and hopefully bring healing, and strengthen coalitions. Huen and Wilkinson are currently working together to create a curriculum around the film for schools so that students learn about the connection between the Asian and Black communities in Oakland.
Ocubillo brings up the problematic idea of Place-Making and remarks that the mural project and film document the power of Place-Keeping, Place-Knowing, and Place-Belonging, a multi-dimensional framework he attributes to Roberto Bedoya. Both the film and the policies that came out of the fight to preserve the mural give the Alice Street mural life beyond its concealment. While not knowing that the film would have this kind of impact when he first began it, for Wilkinson, the power of storytelling creates platforms in which we can discuss, remember, and plan, very much like the function of modern hieroglyphics brought up earlier by Muhammad. Wilkinson hopes that the film can become a part of the spiritual infrastructure, “a table where people can gather.”
Watch the panel discussion:
This event took place on February 17, 2021 and was curated by SF Urban Film Fest Program Producer Robin Abad Ocubillo. For more information about the SF Urban Film Fest, visit our website.
