San Francisco, CA, United States
Fernando Martí is a printmaker, community architect, writer and poet based in San Francisco. His etchings, linocuts, screen prints, and constructions explore the clash of the Third World within the heart of Empire, and highlight the tension between inhabiting place / reclaiming culture, and building something transformative. He brings his formal training in architecture and urbanism to his public projects, including his altar ofrendas. Fernando studied architecture and urbanism at UC Berkeley, and has taught design studios at Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Today, he works on housing issues as co-director of San Francisco’s Council of Community Housing Organizations. Originally from Ecuador, he has been deeply involved in San Francisco’s community struggles since the mid-90s, creating art for and with many local organizations, including the SF Print Collective, the Center for Political Education, PODER, and the SF Community Land Trust. His art and poetry can be found in an occasional 'zine entitled Amor y Lucha and on his Facebook Notes. One of his biggest frustrations is keeping his houseplants happy. He can be contacted at el_compay_nando at yahoo dot com.
Other Media
Futuros Fugaces was a way to explore themes and relationships that have concerned me for a long time: what it means to reclaim ancestral knowledge, how we re-imagine the future,…
This year, my son did not have to create a diorama of a California mission, like so many children in California schools used to do. Instead, the class studied the…
Above: Native-American activists Amy Anderson and Mari Villaluna, with Chinese-American elder Pam Tau Lee One of the leaders working to take down the New Deal-era murals at George Washington High…
I was two years old and five thousand miles away in Ecuador when Los Siete de la Raza were railroaded for the shooting death of a cop in San Francisco,…
Much of my art is created for use by activist organizations, most of it is individually created, things like poster designs, block prints or etchings. I’m happy in this work….
I’ve been thinking a lot about flags lately. What will be the symbols of our movement in the future? Here’s one offering. I’m inspired by the Third World internationalism of…
EPIC Bee was inspired by the logo for Upton Sinclair’s EPIC movement (End Poverty In California) from the 1930s. Sinclair’s plan called for a massive public works program, sweeping tax…
Some thoughts on my contribution to this year’s Justseeds CSA, “Earth Protectors: Global Movements against Climate Change.” I arrived in this country as a five-year old in the 1970s, and…
On West 91st Street in Manhattan, down the street from where my friend lives, is a herd of serene stone llamas, or yaks, or horses, I’m not sure, fat and…