Art Alumni Christo Orepeza, Eliza Barrios Map Gentrification, Displacement

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- The Incline Gallery has hosted many exhibits centered around the housing crisis, including the recent exhibition, which ran May 16 – June 19. Christo Oropeza, co-founder and co-director of the Incline Gallery as well as an SF State fine arts alumnus, said that the gallery is located in what he identified as a post-gentrified location. He said that, because of that, they must recognize the impact that they have as a gallery in the Mission. “Nobody had done a show like that ever (before), and I feel like galleries are a little hesitant to participate in contemporary conversations that are not related to aesthetics,” Oropeza said. “But why have fear? Art is one of the most challenging but transformative things, and if it’s one of the last things we have in our arsenal to combat ignorance with knowledge, then present it.” Eliza Barrios, an SF State alumna of 1992 who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in photography, was also featured in the exhibit.