Grape Stomp Sonoma Plaza September 30th, 2023
By James Salazar | Examiner staff writer |
Oct 13, 2024 Updated Oct 14, 2024
Johanna Poethig paints the restoration of the Ang Lip ni Lapu Lapu mural in SoMa.
SOMA Pilipinas, an organization dedicated to preserving Filipino culture and history in San Francisco, will unveil a public restoration of a decades-old mural Sunday.
“Ang Lipi Ni Lapulapu,” a 40-year-old composition painted by artist Johanna Poethig, details the history of Filipino immigration to the U.S. Poethig worked with artists Vicente Clement and Presco Tabios on the original mural. She restored it with the help of artists Dev Heyrana, Mariel-Mae Paat and Pablo Ruiz Arroyo.
The 90-foot-mural is intended to be one of many pieces turning a portion of the SoMa neighborhood into a Filipino arts and culture destination, and follows the announcement of a forthcoming performing-arts hub. Community members say the efforts are vital for keeping ancestors’ stories alive.
Raquel Redondiez, the director of SOMA Pilipinas, said the mural has served as the cultural district’s anchor installation because “it is the largest, the oldest and also, really, the most comprehensive depiction of our history of migration.”
Redondiez, who has spent the last 25 years working in SoMa, said that since being installed on the side of the San Lorenzo Ruiz Center apartment building in 1984, the mural had become a focal point in area walking tours.
SF org restores decades-old SoMa mural
Greg