SF/Arts Curator Insight

The San Francisco Arts Commission, in partnership with the San Francisco Public Library has tapped artist Lava Thomas to create a monument of Dr. Maya Angelou which will sit outside of the Larkin Street entrance of the San Francisco Main Library.
Fabricated in bronze, the work takes the shape of a book featuring a portrait of Angelou by Thomas and a quote from the literary luminary on the importance of libraries to our ability to understand each other’s humanity.
A landmark monument, Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman will be the first commissioned artwork dedicated to a Black woman in San Francisco’s Civic Art Collection. The work is part of a larger multi-year equity-focused initiative being organized by The Arts Commission called Shaping Legacy that will involve critically evaluating the 98 monuments and memorials in the Civic Art Collection and engaging with communities and artists to help reimagine the future of monuments and memorials in San Francisco.
In addition to a celebratory community unveiling of the work September 19th at the Main Library, Special Project Grants were awarded to the African-American Shakespeare Company and Youth Speaks to facilitate a series of artistic workshops for San Francisco adults and youth centering Maya Angelou’s life and work. The monument will certainly be the opening of a new chapter for diverse public art in the Bay Area.