Tosha Stimage Enlivens Presidio Tunnel Tops with Public Art

San Francisco, CA (March 04, 2024) – Tosha Stimage has been selected as the third artist to create and install a large-scale installation at Presidio Tunnel Tops. She’s the final artist of the Ancestral Futurism: Looking Back to Repair the Future public art mentorship project. Launched for the opening of Presidio Tunnel Tops in July of 2022 under mentor, artist, environmental justice activist, and Presidio Activator Favianna Rodriguez, the project partners with emerging Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) artists to bring culturally relevant public art to park visitors.

Tosha Stimage is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses a variety of mediums to examine how we create language. She’ll create an art installation to transform the space between the Transit Center bus drop off and the Picnic Pavilion at Presidio Tunnel Tops. “I’m incredibly excited to explore the flora of the Presidio and use it to spark curiosity and fresh perspectives. Nature provides an accessible and inclusive entry way for dialogue and consideration of complex social and environmental topics,” Tosha said.

“In this age where we’re witnessing the effects of climate catastrophe, it becomes increasingly important that nature is something that can unify us,” Favianna explained. “Tosha’s love for and curiosity around nature’s lessons can be manifested to solve issues at a larger scale. Given that Tosha’s creativity blossomed through an inquiry of the natural world, I can’t wait to see how the Presidio’s ecosystem will translate into her visual language and help park viewers connect with plant species through a new lens.”

About Ancestral Futurism

Favianna Rodriguez created the inaugural art installation, Ancestral Futurism: Looking Back to Repair the Future, which depicted the diversity and interconnectedness of all humans, land, flora, and fauna that formed the Presidio ecosystem throughout the centuries. The art prompted discussion and learnings about biodiversity, climate change, colonialism, and the repressive history of the Presidio.

In 2023, Favianna collaborated with and mentored artist Felicia Gabaldon for the second art installation entitled, Iconic Visions. In Iconic Visions, Felicia created a mural of images of Presidio creatures like coyote, quail, and monarch butterfly, influenced by desert landscapes and drawing from her identity as a Native American of the Choctaw Tribe with Spanish Heritage.

Both installations included ancillary programming that brought the community together for days of art, music, and cultural celebration, broadening the audience for the national park site. The third installation will take place in late spring and be on view for free to the public through summer and fall.

About Tosha Stimage

Tosha Stimage is an Oakland based artist and entrepreneur focused on creating new and expanded aesthetic vocabularies for communication of identities. Her paintings, collages, installations, and floral sculptures are concerned with experimentation. By consistently re-contextualizing material forms and histories, she offers an expanded potential for “beauty” to visual language.  In 2020 Stimage founded SAINTFLORA a full-service floral design company specializing in unconventional flower experiences. According to Tosha, flowers put us back in the “circle” and connect us to each other, labor, and the land. Visit her website at: https://toshastimage.com

About Partnership for the Presidio

Two federal agencies manage the Presidio: the Presidio Trust and the National Park Service with support from the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Together, the Partnership sustains the Presidio’s natural beauty, preserves its history, maintains its funding and creates inspiring national park experiences for all. Ancestral Futurism was funded by grants to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.