"¡Gentromancer!" is a creative response to gentrification in San Francisco. 

I put a call out to poets; to feature voices of those in the community who have been directly affected. Through submissions of poetry and prose, I compiled a broadsheet spread that was featured in the September 8th issue ofEl Tecolote (prior to the opening). 

The goal of the "¡Gentromancer!" project is to provide the space for artists to creatively assert their values as they are attached to San Francisco.

An excerpt from Caille Millner's piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, September 30th, 2016.

"It was on 24th Street in the Mission, normally a sleepy area for nightlife. I was passing the Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, and there was a crowd filling the space and spilling into the street. There was laughter; families had brought children ...

From within the building, I heard old-school songs playing. Pulled in as if by centripetal force, I saw the stunning women from the Chulita Vinyl Club spinning. I started dancing and snapping photos, so it took me a while to recognize that there were big, beautiful, mural-style paintings on the walls. Looking closer at them, I saw images of the neighborhood’s struggles — burning Victorian buildings, a portrait of Alex Nieto, who was killed by police — and its iconography, in the form of Mayan and volcanic gods.

In a flash I realized that the community was here because they needed to be here. What I’d thought was a party was actually a healing ceremony. It was the opening night of “¡Géntromancer!,” a solo exhibition and community project by Josué Rojas. Rojas, 36, wanted to create a positive community response to the “large, scary, looming monster” of gentrification."

Read the full article at :

http://tinyurl.com/hxqwpqt