The SF LGBT Center unveiled a new mural on July 25th, 2023, as part of an ongoing mural series. The new mural titled Joy is the Fuel by Alma Landeta (they/them) features a queer dance party to celebrate joy as a source of strength and community.
Alma is a queer Latine artist and educator working with schools, organizations, and institutions throughout the Bay Area. Their art is focused on building community, making them a fitting artist for the center’s newest mural.
The large-scale mural fits right in on the massive purple building on the corner of Market and Octavia Blvd. The mural features a tangle of people dancing, and you can feel the joy, vibrancy, and community the mural represents.
The bright yellow words “Joy is the fuel for our collective strength” glow above the dancers. Alma’s inspiration for the piece comes from very real experiences, “recognizing how embodied I feel on the dance floor surrounded by other queer and trans people,” the artist recalls.
Alma discussed how dancing and celebrating together builds a sense of community, with the resulting joy and camaraderie fostering new strength.
“These dance parties are under attack, and any time we do choose to show up together, to congregate, to be in physical proximity, there’s something that feels really magical about the physicality of it, in some ways in defiance.” Alma states when discussing the mural, “by choosing to actively show up to those places, to lean into the joy of being a community, there’s strength in that.”
The mural is fittingly a labor of love from Landeta’s community. The artist created a paint by numbers to allow friends to help paint the mural, and the they recalled how several people would come and paint every day during the process. The result is like a patchwork quilt that reflects the community and joy that helped make it.
A place for community
The SF LGBT Center has been an important cultural center of SF since it first opened its doors in 2002. More than 20 years later, the center continues to provide a space to celebrate, support, and create resources for future generations. In 2017 the center underwent a 10.3 million renovation to create a beautiful, welcoming space that will continue to support the LGBT community.
The center provides many services for the queer community, including job fairs, counseling, workshops, and social activities. The space is located at 1800 Market Street, conveniently close to the neighborhoods of Haight-Ashbury, Hayes Valley, Castro, and Civic Center.