San Jose Public Art Walking Tour (Self Guided), San Jose

This walking tour, “Public Art as Resistance in San José,” highlights the history of resistance and public art in downtown San José and begins on the urban university campus, San José State University. Starting from the first two works of art on campus, you’ll find that these 12 works of public art are among many in this area. However, this particular walking tour considers how San José’s communities actively challenge narrow and exclusionary interpretations of local history through public art creation, through both impermanent creations, such as graffiti murals, and more permanent large scale public sculptures, and utilize public art as a space of resistance, resisting both colonialist histories and recent narratives of urban demise through the beautification of urban space via art that showcases diversity in the city.

Monuments and public art stand as public acknowledgments to people and events woven into community and national narratives. They complement the historical perspectives that are taught within the formal education system to create a common origin story for a unified society. Narratives are not all encompassing, much like literary works their components are selected for the value of storytelling – resulting in the exclusion of the stories of all who make up the society. To resist the monolithic homogeneous narrative, monuments serve as resistance, adding new chapters to inspiration and critique. As acts of public resistance they are often framed as community beautification projects or monuments to civil rights movements, as opposed to open calls to question the dominant narrative and the absence of those groups who have been traditionally underrepresented and excluded. Art in all its forms is meant to challenge the viewer to question what they see, broadening their knowledge base to see a more holistic and complicated version of the world. These monuments ask the viewer to question their perspectives on history and be open to broadening it.

This is an abbreviated version of the walking tour created by faculty and students at San José State University in collaboration with local arts organizations. To view the full descriptions of each work of public art and learn more about the history of resistance in San José, visit the website: https://www.sjsu.edu/ha-public-art-tour/public-art

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this tour do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.