The Botanical Mural

Location: Corner of Church St and 22d St. - San Francisco. (--map--)

This mural features greatly magnified botanical illustrations of locally occurring, small wild plants, both native species and non-native, invasive weeds. In some cases I painted weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk directly in front of the wall, at different stages of life and decay. Looking at nature closely, one may notice the intricacy and beauty of even the most "valueless" and unseeming little plants, regardless of their color or drabness, their perceived value or usefulness, or stage in life. These heroic-scale portraits of the seldom noticed and literally downtrodden, are my tribute to the resiliance of all those renegade life forms that may or may not fit within the designs of our society, but keep growing nonetheless. They are also an homage to beauty that is free and available to all, if we can claim the time to pay attention to it. Click to enlarge: Article about this mural in El Tecolote newspaper: Español - English Credits: Mural design and painting: Mona Caron, 2006 Assistants: Lisa Ruth Elliott, Paige Tuhey. Volunteers: Maria Teresa Caparrotta, Alana De Riggi, Mary Brown, Ali Tonak, Brian Awehali, Maite Hierra. Made possible by a grant from San Francisco's Neighborhood Challenge Grant Program, and by a grant from San Francisco Beautiful. Fiscal Sponsor: counterPULSE Thanks: Theresa Mahler Child Development Center and SFUSD; Lisa Ruth Elliott, David Hochschild, Adrián Arias, Rupa Marya, Joel Pomerantz, Alec Bash The mural process: - in-progress photos and info about the painting process. - Our fabulous inauguration party. © Mona Caron Please get permission before using images