After years of deep listening, careful collaboration, and creative storytelling, we are thrilled to launch the Sounds of California: Bayview microsite—a new digital collection that brings together community recordings, essays, and archival performances to honor the rich cultural life of Bayview-Hunters Point.
This collection—part of ACTA’s Sounds of California series—offers a place-based archive of stories told by residents, artists, elders, and youth. It honors the layered history of a neighborhood shaped by migration, resilience, and creativity.
“The Bayview is a beautiful neighborhood where the fog lifts when the rest of the city sits in its cool gray. It is also one of the last African American neighborhoods in San Francisco.”
— Lily Kharrazi, Curator & Project Lead
The Bayview collection is organized around three key components:
🎬 Layers of History + Peoples
Filmmaker and community connector Tumani Onabiyi created If These Waters Could Speak, a short video essay that threads together the neighborhood’s migration stories—from Indigenous Ohlone seafarers to African American shipyard workers—alongside reflections from longtime residents. The essay is paired with a powerful curatorial letter by Curator & Project Lead Lily Kharrazi, contextualizing the neighborhood’s layered history and present-day realities.
🗣 Community Recording Day
In May 2018, ACTA and our collaborators hosted a community recording day at the Bayview Opera House, where residents were invited to reflect on life in Bayview. These intimate video interviews—facilitated by Tumani Onabiyi and visual artist and community elder Malik Seneferu—highlight the personal stories, faith, activism, and memories that animate the neighborhood.
Meet the Bayview storytellers:
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- Jeffrey Branner, preacher and activist, reflects on gentrification, community strength, and the power of faith and organizing.
- Kristine Mays, artist and changemaker, recalls childhood joys, fig trees, and her drive to inspire hope through art.
- Calvin Holmes, bata drummer and longtime homeowner, shares memories of walking Bayview streets with his six siblings.
- James Hundon, martial artist and educator, speaks about investing in youth and the assets of his neighborhood.
- Osaze Seneferu, emerging artist, reflects on growing up surrounded by art and his goal to become a museum curator.
- Antoinette Mobley, cultural worker and activist, shares her journey returning home to uplift community through the arts.
- Karwanna Dyson, hip-hop artist and nonprofit leader, weaves stories of childhood, double dutch rhymes, and giving back.
- Jeanette Fisher Kouadio, attorney and real estate expert, reflects on preserving generational wealth and honoring her elders.
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🎶 Bayview in Concert
In April 2018, the Bayview Opera House hosted a landmark community concert featuring a cross-cultural lineup of musicians rooted in tradition and place. Hosted by the legendary Rhodessa Jones, the concert featured:
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- Omnira Institute’s Awon Ohun Omnira Choir, preserving West African spiritual music and drumming traditions.
- La Familia Peña-Govea, a Chicano musical family from San Francisco’s Mission District, performing traditional Mexican songs.
- Özden Öztoprak & Işık Berfin, a Kurdish Alevi mother-daughter duo singing songs of spiritual resistance and memory.
- Au Co Vietnamese Musical Ensemble, a youth group performing on traditional instruments such as the đàn tranh under the direction of master artist Vân-Ánh Võ.
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Highlighting Our Community Connectors and Collaborators
This project would not have been possible without Tumani Onabiyi and Malik Seneferu, who acted not only as interviewers but as cultural stewards and community connectors.
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- Malik Seneferu, a prolific Bayview-born painter, muralist, and cultural organizer whose mantra REMAIN CREATIVE has inspired generations of local artists. Malik’s deep ties in the community and visionary activism are central to this archive.
- Tumani Onabiyi, filmmaker, photographer, drummer, and documentarian of Black cultural life in the Bay Area. His visual and oral history work captures the spirit of community memory across time and geography.
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Their relationships in the neighborhood and deep cultural knowledge shaped every aspect of this project—from who we interviewed to how the stories were told. This project has taken many hands, years of trust-building, and countless conversations. We’d like to thank the Bayview-Hunters Point community for sharing its voices and visions with us so generously.
In addition to the storytellers listed above, we’d like to give special thanks to:
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- Curator & Project Lead: Lily Kharrazi
- Concert Recording: Radio Bilingüe
- Concert Videography and Editing: Jon Ching and Joanne Ching
- Archival Assistant and Illustrator: Emma Kwok
- Photography: Sonia Narang, Lily Kharrazi, Bayview Opera House
- ACTA Project Team: Amy Kitchener, Lily Kharrazi, Jennifer Jameson Merchant, Juhi Gupta
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Sounds of California is a project about listening, honoring place, and recognizing that sound—music, voice, silence—carries memory and meaning. We invite you to visit our microsite, explore the stories, and spend some time with the voices of Bayview.
Explore the Sounds of California: Bayview microsite
Stay tuned on ACTA’s social media for more community stories, archival gems, and short-form videos from Bayview-Hunters Point over the coming weeks.
Sounds of California: Bayview was produced in partnership with Bayview Opera House, Radio Bilingüe, and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Sounds of California: Bayview was made possible with support from the James Irvine Foundation and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
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