SOMA Pilipinas Debuts MAKIBAKA: A Living Legacy — Honoring Filipino Art, Activism, and Cultural Impact in San Francisco
Featuring 20+ Contemporary Filipinx Artists and Lighthouse Sculpture Installation
Illuminating Yerba Buena Gardens
School Courtyard (BessieCarmichaelSchoolFEC) by Cherisse Alcantara
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, July 16, 2025 — MAKIBAKA: A Living Legacy is a powerful new exhibition—curated by City and State recognized Filipino Cultural Heritage District SOMA Pilipinas in partnership with acclaimed independent curator, Trisha Lagaso Goldberg—reclaiming the rich cultural contributions, enduring spirit, and fierce political activism of the Filipino community in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and beyond.
The exhibition features the work of accomplished and emerging artists—including Erina Alejo, Kimberly Acebo Arteche, England Hidalgo, Johanna Poethig, Weston Teruya, Lucille Tenazas, Jenifer Wofford, Rea Lynn De Guzman, and more. Presented by SOMA Pilipinas in collaboration with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), the exhibition opens on August 1, 2025 and runs until January 4, 2026. MAKIBAKA opens on the same day as YBCA exhibition Bay Area Then, showcasing work by 21 artists who forged a new creative legacy for the Bay Area in the 1990s.
Rooted in the Tagalog word makibaka—to struggle, to resist, to defy—MAKIBAKA reclaims the San Francisco Filipino community’s history and struggle for self-determination as not mere artifact, but living legacy. MAKIBAKA exhibits contemporary, intergenerational artworks alongside historical and community-held objects, memories, and movements, serving as a reminder of what is possible through collective action in the face of today’s political climate.
“MAKIBAKA is a declaration. It honors the generations who held their ground and made the city theirs—through protest, through art, through unrelenting care,” said MAKIBAKA Curatorial Advisor Trisha Lagaso Goldberg. “This exhibition insists that Filipino presence in San Francisco is not symbolic—it is structural, embodied, and alive.”
The Blighted And Valuable Streets Of South Of Market by England Hidalgo, photo credit: Erina Alejo
Expressions of Ongoing Struggle and Resilience: Exhibition Highlights
The MAKIBAKA exhibition highlights a mix of contemporary and historical artworks, installations, and narratives that carry forward the SoMa Filipino community’s legacy of struggle and resilience—including archives from legendary South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), an organization which has been a vital force in the South of Market and in SF, organizing low-income immigrant and marginalized residents around community development, tenant and workers rights and environmental and language justice.
Artist Mark Baugh-Sasaki’s stainless steel sculpture inspired by the ‘bahay kubo’—a traditional Filipino dwelling made from indigenous materials—entitled Lighthouse will serve as a landmark on the exterior of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The installation will project archival video footage and photos of the Filipino presence in San Francisco (from 6pm-6am)—utilizing form, light, and memory to invite reflection and renewed commitment to the collective act of placekeeping.
The Moments and Movements timeline is a testament to the powerful legacy of Filipino organizing, resistance, and struggle throughout San Francisco’s history. This installation features objects emblematic of this ongoing legacy, such as a brick from the original International Hotel.
“The MAKIBAKA exhibit is a new offering from our SOMA Pilipinas arts initiative, which has transformed our cultural district into a vibrant canvas of resistance, memory, and cultural pride. From public art in the streets to contemporary arts in our institutions, we’re creating space for our stories to live and inspire,” said Raquel Redondiez, SOMA Pilipinas Director. “We’re proud to collaborate with visionary curator Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, YBCA and movement-rooted artists whose work embodies the spirit of collective struggle and creative resilience. This exhibit uplifts our shared legacy and affirms that Filipino culture is not only surviving, it’s thriving the South of Market.”
As a cultural heritage district, SOMA Pilipinas is not only home to generations of Filipino families and community institutions, it is also an open-air gallery and creative sanctuary. In recent years, the neighborhood has seen an explosion of vibrant public art installations, including more than 40 Filipino-themed murals, crosswalks and colorfully adorned light posts that uplift the district’s people and stories.
It Wasn't Only A Hotel by Kimberly Acebo Arteche
Opening night event details:
Makibaka: A Living Legacy
Presented by SOMA Pilipinas in collaboration with YBCA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission St., San Francisco, CA
Friday, August 1, 2025
6:30 - Open to the public
RSVP here
Exhibition details:
Aug. 1, 2025 - Jan. 4, 2026
Open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visiting Info: https://ybca.org/event/makibaka-a-living-legacy/
Full list of exhibiting artists:
Cherisse Alcantara
Erina Alejo
Kimberly Acebo Arteche
Mark Baugh-Sasaki
Amanda Messina Gerodias
Nix Guirre
Rea Lynn de Guzman
England Hidalgo
Cristine Blanco Liwanag
Cher Musico
Joanna Poethig
JoJo
SA AMIN (Dyan Ruiz, Nix Guirre, Joseph Smooke, Fay Darmawi, and Rachel Lastimosa)
RO3LAY
South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN)
Lucille Tenazas
Weston Teruya
Mabilong Weavers
Kalingfornia Laga Weavers
Jenifer Wofford
Jenny Bawer Young
Verma Soria Zapanta
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About SOMA Pilipinas
SOMA Pilipinas is San Francisco’s designated Filipino Cultural Heritage District, celebrating the historic and ongoing contributions of Filipinos in the SoMa neighborhood through cultural preservation, economic development and community-led advocacy. For More information visit www.somapilipinas.org
About Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a leading contemporary arts center in San Francisco committed to uplifting the city’s diverse creative voices and advancing cultural equity through bold exhibitions, performances and public engagement. For more information visit www.ybca.org