Mabel Negrete

"Anita's desperation" ; charcoal / pencil drawing collage;  08/1991 

Sometimes we dream of horrible nightmares and as soon as we weak up, we  feel  joy that it was just a bad dream. However, what do you think Anita might have felt like after having that long horrible dream while she was awake?... What  joy would a homeless woman feel knowing that her only comfort from that nightmare was another night on the street?

I am "la Maldita", an immigrant and artist from Chile who has adopted San Francisco as my home town. My main interests over the past years has been art and social work. Combining these two passions, I have done paintings, posters, illustrations, murals and participated in public art projects that address the issues of homelessness, PIC, domestic violence, police brutality, housing, and labor. I believe that art can be used as a tool for social change by exposing the realities that are hidden from the public eye or the realities we hide from ourselves. Presently, I am in school and working on a degree focused on art/politics/education. In the future, I plan to teach and my main focus will be political art and it's role throughout the ages.

"Anita's desperation" has been published: STREET SHEETS - front cover issue 11/1991 - by the Homeless Coalition of San Francisco and WHAT IF?  Journal of Radical Possibilities  vol.2 - 08/2002 - editor: Christy Rodgers

contact: la_maldita@riseup.net