you. >> when i first moved here people come to san francisco to be the person you want to be can be anyone you want. >> the community is so rich and diverse that i'm learning every single day san francisco is an amazing photoy town historically been base on evolution and that applies to every single professional field including philanthropic arts today what i do is photo based art manifests traditional forest and some colonel lodge and other frames of digital forest is a meeting that has been changing like super rapid and the quality is not extended by the medium if

you took forest in school or you get a job in a newspaper they'll give give you a list of how to create a philanthropic story my goal to break down that model and from a to b that is unique and allows the ability to incorporate different types of i believey about propels someone through the rise and a fall of their own experiences one of the main things i'm trying to contribute it unconditional narrative form the narrative art of photograph the in between of photos how does a group of photos come together as how to use the space between photos to alight emotional responses from the audience and bring innovation and create bodies of work that narratively function the way that photos do

san francisco as the commission came out and you visited me and one of their prerestricts was to find an art with enough work to fill a large says that a quad down the hallway downstairs and we hung that quad to feel like a train station that constant sensation from all different directions some of the major characteristic of the landscape festivities the blur of the train their 70 miles per hour and they're not perfect as opposed to to what landscape will look like it creates a dichotomy for people insides the train not just the story of the subject it is not just the visual design the composition

juxtapositioning, etc. not just all autobiography boo-hoo it creates pictures with meaning within them and then some of the portraits feel awkward some of them feel welcoming and the person that mime making the picture is really comfortable and other ones feel awkward and weigh i didn't and tense that sensation is counter to what we feel like makes a successful portrait that sensation makes that work it is hard to be an artist in a city is 100 percent focused an business the cost of living is expensive and to value your

success not scribble on financial return creates a conflict between the paramount egos in san francisco today. >> you see a lot of artists leaving for that reason because you need space to make work my ultimate goal to make work that firms people firms this gift and just the experience of life and of their worst and of the amazement the wonderment of

>> the exhibition focuser features 150 works of art by 65 artists and we've had the great pleasure of welcoming many of those artists at the opening of the exhibition. and at subsequent events on our saturdays. since the exhibition opened about 55,000 visitors have walked through, and many of them attracted to the museum by the free saturdays, free general admission saturdays, that has been jegenerously sponsored by s wilsley. and there's two remaining free saturdays for the exhibition itself before the end of the show on march 15th, on the second saturday of february, and the second saturday of march. and we are also offering a reduced entrance to the museum

entrance of $10. so there's time for our visitors to still enjoy this important exhibition. with that i'm going to hand over to the next speaker. >> it's one of the treasures of this city and county of san francisco. and i have the great pleasure while serving as the mayor of this city on more than one occasion to visit a place that as a result of the quake of 1989 ended up being the new young museum. and it would not been that way

without a fabulous commitment from a woman who more than any other single punish in thi persy who devotes her resources and life to the arts. she devotes those resources and herself to the arts reflective of the incredible, wonderful collection of people that represents the diversity of this extraordinary city. in your capacity as mayor, and i'm sure that mayor breed shares my view on this, that if we had just four of de dee dee, oh, my god, yes.

[laughter] probably. but it was frankly just a wonderful experience to be able to pick up the telephone and to have somebody on the other end understand and offer suggestion and directions on how best to address what needed to be addressed. no one does it any better. so, mayor breed, it's my pleasure to introduce you, because i know that you want to say some wonderful words as you often do these days, you know, i -- london, when she could hardly speak english i knew her. but she's gotten so good, i don't even want to be near where she is for speech making purposes because she did it so clear and so concise and so direct. having london breed as the mayor

and still having dee dee on the side under all circumstances, means that the city is appropriately and richly in great hands and the soul of a nation clearly reflects that. and when the man who heads this museum says this show is to leave in march, that's five days before my 86th birthday. i think that you ought to keep the show here. [laughter] yes, yes. give me a party here. but, ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you a woman who heads this city and who i think will have a long tenure of doing the kind of things that are

reflective in this museum and, believe me, if you're the mayor, this is your museum. mayor breed, your museum. [applause] >> mayor london breed: thank you. first, of all, thank you, mayor brown, for that introduction. and thank you to everyone who is here today. tom campbell and the team here at the museum. they do an extraordinary job working to bring some of the most innovative exhibitions anywhere. i love coming here too and i know that so many of these exhibits wouldn't be possible if not for this incredible woman, dee dee wilsey, who not only rolled up her sleeves to help to get the buildings built like the museum and the hospital at ucsf, and other places in san francisco, but she's committed to ensuring that we have real equity when we provide opportunities like a deyoung

museum and the soul of the nation and what it represents is absolutely extraordinary. and the fact that miss wilsey has invested resources into making sure that there are days that are free to the public, to ensure access to such an incredible exhibit, is something that typically a corporation or a company usually does, but this lady single handedly did it for this incredible exhibit. and i want to thank you for your work and your commitment. [applause] this extraordinary exhibit, which spans over the course of 20 years during the most -- i think during the most critical transition of african americans anywhere, especially here in california, is just absolutely incredible. and i had an opportunity in december to tour the exhibit with the curator and to just really feel like i was stepping back in time and the commitment

and how these revolutionary artists chose to take what they knew best in terms of what they created and turn it into something so extraordinary, it is mind blowing. and, up you know, i'm a big fanf the mayor and the work that he's done and his message is that you have to stare at his work for a very long time to really understand all of the pieces of the collage art work that he does to really just get a feel for how impactful at the time his work was and continues to be to this continuing day. and mayor brown suggested that i used to be an executive director of the art complex and i wanted to put the african american culture complex on the map for performing and visual arts, but i wanted to make sure that larger institutions highlighted

the african american artists, both past and present. and we developed an incredible working relationship with the museum hosting nights here at the museum when the current co-executive director and her sister melanie green served and worked at the center curating and doing everything under the sun and now they're running the place am so i'm really grateful that melora is here today with us to celebrate this milestone and how this incredible exhibit, which talks about everything from the black panther movement which started right here in the bay area in oakland, to the riots in san francisco and the significance that the artists played during that time in communicating the message, really touched the hearts and lives of african americans. and it was not always, you know, appreciated and celebrated in

main society. it was our way of coming together and it was our way of communicating muc. now it's the world's way of showing respect and appreciation for what artists did during that time, during such a significant movement that have led to an opportunity for even someone like me or mayor brown to serve as mayor of one of the most incredible cities in the world today. so i recognize the connection. i recognize using art as a vehicle for change and i'm also excited that we have two of our arts commissioners here, chuck collins here today as well. and it is really great to have so many people who care about the opportunities that exist and using this story and this exhibit, soul of a nation, really digs deep into that. and i've got to tell you that if you walk around these halls and you hear about what this exhibit is about and you read what you see, it really will take you

back. and it really will make you feel a certain kind of way about how artists and african americans in this country had to live and chose to put themselves and their lives on the line anyway for justice. and over the span of 20 years it gives you just a glimpse of that. that's why this is so powerful, and that's why we're all here today to see it, to experience it, and to take it in, and to also to share it with other people in the bay area so that they don't miss out on an opportunity to see what -- to see what i think is one of the most extraordinary exhibits that the museum has had in a long time. so, again, i want to thank you all for being here today. i'm really excited about this. i've actually seen it and really spent quality time here exploring it. and i, again, we wanted more exhibits like this at the museum

and more exhibits like there in san francisco. and i want to again thank dee dee for really shining a light on the need to provide diverse opportunities in arts here in san francisco. you have been just been a true treasure and we value you so much. and thank you to everyone who is joining us here today. now i'm going to turn the mike back over to tom campbell and i think that at that time that we'll go over a guided tour. >> can i also mention that we have one of the artists, mike henderson, is with us this afternoon. [applause] so thank you all very much. lee, are you going to cro coreoh a photograph? (♪)

>> first it's always the hardest and when they look back they really won't see you, but it's the path that you're paving forward for the next one behind you that counts. (♪) hi, my name is jajaida durden and i'm the acting superintendent for the bureau of forestry and i work for public works operations. and i'm over the landscaping, the shop and also the arborist crew. and some tree inspectors as well. i have been with the city and county of san francisco for 17 years. and i was a cement mason, that

was my first job. when i got here i thought that it was too easy. so i said one day i'll be a supervisor. and when i run this place it will be ran different. and i i didn't think that it wod happen as fast as it did, but it did. and i came in 2002 and became a supervisor in 2006. and six months later i became the permanent supervisor over the shop. >> with all of those responsibilities and the staff you're also dealing with different attitudes and you have to take off one hat and put on another hat and put on another hat. and she's able -- she's displayed that she can carry the weight with all of these different hats and still maintain the respect of the director, the deputy director and all of the other people that she has to come in contact with. >> she's a natural leader. i mean with her staff, her staff thinks highly of her. and the most important thing is when we have things that happen, a lot of emergencies, she's right by me and helps me out

every time that i have asked. >> my inspiration is when i was a young adult was to become a fire woman. well, i made some wrong decisions and i ended up being incarcerated, starting young and all the way up to an adult. when i was in jail they had a little program called suppers program and i -- supers program, and i met strong women in there and they introduced me to construction. i thought that the fire department would turn me down because i had a criminal history. so i looked into options of what kind of construction i could do. while i was in jail. and the program that i was in, they re-trained us on living and how to make the right decisions and i chose construction. and cement mason didn't require a high school diploma at that time so i figured i could do that. when i got out of jail they had

a program in the philmore area and i went there. my first day out i signed up and four days later i started to work and i never looked back. i was an apprentice pouring concrete. and my first job was mount zion emergency hospital which is now ucsf. and every day that i drive by ucsf and i look at the old mount zion emergency, i have a sense of pride knowing that i had a part of building that place. yeah, i did. i graduated as an apprentice and worked on a retrofit for city hall. i loved looking at that building and i take big pride in knowing that i was a part of that retrofit. my first for formen job was a 40 story building from the ground

up. and it's a predominantly male industry and most of the times people underestimate women. i'm used to it though, it's a challenge for me. >> as a female you're working with a lot of guys. so when they see a woman, first they don't think that the woman is in charge and to know that she's a person that is in charge with operations, i think that it's great, because it's different. it's not something -- i mean, not only a female but the only female of color. >> i was the first female finisher in the cement shop and i was the first crew supervisor, in the shop as a woman. when i became a two, the supervisors would not help me. in the middle, they'd call me a rookie, an apprentice and a female trying to get somewhere that she don't belong. oh, it was terrible. it was terrible. i didn't have any support from the shop. the ones who said they supported me, they didn't, they talked

about me behind my back. sometimes i had some crying, a lot of crying behind doors, not in public. but i had a lot of mentors. my mentor i will call and would pick up the phone and just talk, talk, talk, please help me. what am a i going to do? hang in there. it was frustrating and disheartening, it really was. but what they didn't understand is that because they didn't help me i had to learn it. and then probably about a year later, that's when i started to lay down the rules because i had studied them and i learned them and it made me a good supervisor and i started to run the ship the way that i wanted to. it was scary. but the more i saw women coming through the shop, i saw change coming. i knew that it was going to come, but i didn't know how long it would take. it was coming. in the beginning when i first

came here and i was the first woman here as a finisher, to see the change as it progressed and for me to become a permanent assistant superintendent over the cement shop right now, that's my highlight. i can look down at my staff and see the diversity from the women to the different coaches in here and know that no one has to ever go through what i went through coming up. and i foster and help everyone instead of pushing them away. i'll talk to women and tell them they can make it and if they need any help, come talk to me. and they com knock on my door ad ask how i move up and how i get training. i'm always encouraging to go to school and encourage them to take up some of the training with d.p.w. and i would tell them to hold strong and understand that things that we go through today that are tough makes you stronger for tomorrow.

although we don't like hearing it at the time that we're going through all of this stuff, it helps you in the long run to become a better woman and a person