In the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, Clarion Alley is once again becoming a canvas for powerful community storytelling. Local artist Victoria Canby, who drives a black Tacoma she affectionately calls her “pony,” is painting a new mural that confronts the legacy of nuclear colonialism.
From Education to Street Art
Canby, a Bay Area‑based muralist born in Albuquerque and raised in Marin County, spent years working in education, museums, community advocacy, and native nonprofits before turning to full‑time art. Since 2023 she has been a familiar presence in Clarion Alley, where she completed a mural titled “We Grow Our Own Medicine for Interdimensional and Intertribal Healing,” celebrating native plants and healing traditions.
Research‑Driven Design
For her latest project, Canby teamed up with Kyoko Sato, associate director of Stanford’s program in science, technology and society. Together they spent a year researching the history of atomic power and its impact on communities worldwide. Both artists bring personal experience: Canby is Diné (Navajo) and Sato is Japanese, and each has seen their own communities suffer from nuclear fallout.
The mural will feature a time‑map of sites—from the Congo and Nevada to Japan and more than thirty‑five other locations—marked by red dots that represent nuclear testing, bombings, waste dumping, and power plant accidents. At its center stands a genie‑like figure called Nazo, a “yellow monster” in Navajo tradition, positioned before an exploding atomic bomb.
Educating the Neighborhood
Canby says many people are unaware of what nuclear colonialism entails and how far its effects reach. “It embodies so many other issues: water, ethics, morality, and who is holding this power,” she explained. The artist hopes the mural will spark conversation among the tech workers and residents who pass by, encouraging them to scan a QR code that links to a deeper story about each site.
She expects the mural to be completed within the next few months, adding another layer of cultural and historical awareness to Clarion Alley’s storied walls.
Original reporting: Mission Local — read the source article.
