Barbara Mumby Huerta: Curating The Continuous Thread — Art, Identity & Public Narrative
- barbaramumby1
- Jan 25
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 26
By Barbara Mumby Huerta
Curatorial practice is more than arranging objects in space — it is about shaping narratives, amplifying voices, and inviting audiences into dialogue with history, identity, and collective experience. One of the most meaningful projects I directed during my tenure with the San Francisco Arts Commission was The Continuous Thread: Celebrating Our Interwoven Histories, Identities and Contributions — a citywide initiative rooted in community, representation, and the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples in the Bay Area. Stanford Humanities Center
The Continuous Thread was part of the American Indian Initiative hosted by the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries from October through December 2019. The exhibition and related public programs asked a fundamental question: How do public narratives shift when Indigenous individuals are portrayed as modern, vibrant community members rather than relics of a distant past? San Francisco Arts Commission
From Monument to Community Presence
The project emerged from community-led movements that had long protested the racist and historically inaccurate representation in San Francisco’s Early Days component of the Pioneer Monument. In 2018, following years of advocacy, the Early Days sculpture was removed. What followed was not an erasure of history, but a chance to reframe public presence and collective identity. San Francisco Arts Commission
In April 2019, more than 150 Indigenous Bay Area community members participated in a large-scale photography initiative on the now-empty pedestal — a symbolic reclaiming of space and narrative. Photographs by Indigenous artists and documentarians including Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie (Diné and Seminole), Jean Melesaine (Samoan), and Britt Bradley (Algonquin, Hispanic and Irish American) became central to the exhibition and related programming. San Francisco Arts Commission+1
A City Celebrates Its Cultural Fabric
The Continuous Thread was part of a broader citywide celebration that included exhibitions, a temporary projection project illuminating Indigenous portraits on major public buildings, film festivals, concerts, fashion shows, and community events. These programs were not only artistic presentations but community forums that invited people to reflect on how inclusive public narratives can reshape urban identity and belonging. San Francisco Arts Commission
The goal was clear: to portray Indigenous peoples as present, diverse, and vital contributors to civic life, rather than as historical footnotes. It is an approach rooted in representation, dignity, and shared cultural memory. San Francisco Arts Commission
Curatorial Vision and Community Agency
Curating The Continuous Thread was not about curatorial control; it was about supporting Indigenous agency and community storytelling. It required listening deeply to community members about how they wanted to be seen and alongside whom. Public art and exhibitions, especially those that engage questions of identity, must elevate community voice above institutional framing. Stanford Humanities Center
This project reinforced a core belief that guides all my work: art and curation are not separate from community — they are catalyzed by it.
Legacy and Future Practice
Long after the exhibition closed, the initiative’s influence continued: recognition of Ohlone leadership in public processes, normalization of land acknowledgements, and the establishment of an American Indian Cultural District are among the structural shifts that followed. Stanford Humanities Center
Curatorial practice, at its best, opens doors to new forms of understanding. The Continuous Thread illustrates how exhibitions can be platforms for shared memory — moments when art, history, and community become inseparable.
Barbara Mumby Huerta is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural strategist whose work foregrounds community narratives, equity, and identity in public cultural spaces.
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