Su Arte Here: Five Years of Galería’s Digital Mural Project By Carolina Ponce de León Galería’s Bryant Street billboard has been a part of Galería since 1973. In the early 1970s, the billboard functioned as a commercial space that often displayed advertisements for harmful products, such as alcohol and tobacco, directly targeted to Latinos. Galería affiliated artists took over the billboard by painting over the ads, replacing them with community-affirming images and messages. Over time, the owners of the billboard ceded the wall to Galería and the billboard has undergone 30 years of continuous layers filled with a history of temporary murals created by many talented local Chicano artists. Today, the billboard functions as an aesthetic cradle for public discourse on a variety of political and social issues. Founded in 1999, the Digital Mural Project (DMP) continues Galería’s long-standing tradition of arts activism and community dialogue from unique Latino/a perspectives. Building on the rich tradition of painted murals in San Francisco's Mission District, the program invites artists working with digital imagery and photography to access to the public art space. Since 1999, the DMP has commissioned over 20 artists from the Bay Area and beyond to create imagery dealing with important issues that range from the gentrification of the Mission District during the dotcom era, homophobia, immigration, racism, farm-worker human rights, the war in Iraq, and the Bush lies. As a result, the DMP’s “public” nature has evolved from a locational space to an ongoing dialogue with the community. At a time when “public” space is privately owned by media giants such as Clear Channel (who controls more than 700,000 display spaces in 37 different countries), the DMP attempts to provide a space for artwork that adds other perspectives to the urban landscape. As we celebrate our 35th anniversary, Su Arte Here, reflects our commitment to engaging artists and audiences in new forms of community dialogue. Participating Artists: Los Anthropolocos, Los Cybrids, Francisco Domínguez, María Elvira Escallón, Lucia Grossberg-Morales, Pato Herbert, Robert Karimi and Conchita Villalba, John Leaños, Alma Lopez, Lalo Lopez-Alcaraz, Al Lujan, Julio Morales, Liliana Porter, Armando Rascón, Rosangela Rennó, San Francisco Print Collective, and Los Über-Locos.