Tell Them We Were Here

Documentary Screening followed by Q&A with Director Griff Williams.

Sunday July 28, 4pm @ Oakland Photo Workshop Gallery

Free

Tell Them We Were Here chronicles artists living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they extend the historical legacy of Bay Area activism. Embedded within the art practices of these eight artists we see the most pressing issues of our time, Prison Reform, Homelessness, Racial Equity, Feminism, Environmental Justice, Income Inequality.

The film follows the work of artists Sadie Barnette, Amy Franceschini (Futurefarmers), Jim Goldberg, Tucker Nichols, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Alicia McCarthy, Nigel Poor (Ear Hustle), and Michael Swaine. In an age of hypercapitalism, these artists represent an empowering alternative worldview, one that emphasizes creativity and community over capital.

Framed within the last 25 years of art-making in the Bay Area, the film is not an all-encompassing historical document, but rather a glimpse into a select group of artists who’ve chosen a less worn path. It touches on the disappearance of cultural communities due to gentrification and economic instability and reminds us of how vital creative communities are to healthy societies and political change.