San Francisco Unveils New Large-Scale Glass Artwork Installation at Chinatown-Rose Pak Muni Station, Honoring History of Chinatown Neighborhood

SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2025 – Today, the  San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), City officials, and community leaders celebrate the completed installation of the first phase of a new permanent architecturally-integrated glass art installation at Chinatown-Rose Pak Muni Station that illustrates and celebrates the rich culture and history of the surrounding area and Chinatown neighborhood. 

Arrival, created by internationally renowned New York-based artist and activist Tomie Arai, presents the story of San Francisco’s Chinatown through historic and contemporary imagery translated into architectural glass on the station’s parapet façade along Stockton and Washington streets, as well as along the station’s plaza wall. 

“This project serves as an illustration of the immigrant experience and the history of San Francisco”, said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “In addition to being a transit and community hub, Chinatown-Rose Pak Station will now welcome residents and visitors alike with incredible art. This mural exemplifies the rich culture of San Francisco and how immigrants throughout history have helped shaped Chinatown and our city.”  

San Francisco’s Chinatown, the oldest in the United States, like many urban centers with diverse immigrant communities, can be seen as a microcosm of the world. At the entrance into the Muni station, the artwork extends like a scroll across the three sides of the station’s parapet beginning with scenes of the California coast and San Francisco Bay—a historic port of entry for immigrants from Asia. As the artwork turns onto Stockton Street and then Washington Street, the design portrays a mix of hybrid trees and flowers, suggesting a vibrant garden and the promise of a new home, a reference to the Ping Yuen (Peaceful Garden) public housing project and the legacy of Chinatown tenant organizers. Maps of local streets, the broader city, and the world beyond form an evolving backdrop for portraits of students from Gordon J. Lau Elementary School and multiple generations of community members. Arrival signifies a neighborhood in transition, rich with history and moving towards a more global future. 

"Rose Pak Station is emerging as a vital hub for transportation and community life in Chinatown. Tomie Arai’s new artwork at the station reflects the Asian American experience while highlighting the powerful intersection of art, identity, and social activism,” said Danny Sauter, Supervisor of District 3. “The artwork, Arrival, will undoubtedly enrich the cultural vibrancy of this historic neighborhood.”   

"With the completion of Phase I of Arrival by Tomie Arai at Chinatown-Rose Pak Station, the often-untold and overlooked stories of Asian American contributions to San Francisco will now help beautify this dynamic and resilient neighborhood," said Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs. "We are proud to see this site-specific work, one that is reflective of the surrounding community, come to life and serve as a living archive for future generations to come. Thank you to SFMTA and Public Works for their partnership and collaboration in helping install this monumental work." 

To highlight historic and contemporary imagery, the artist collaborated and partnered with California State Library and California State Parks, Library of Congress, Museum of Performance and Design, Museum of Chinese in America, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco Public Library, Stanford University, Alisa J. Kim and the Tape Family, Moulin Studios, and individuals: Corky Lee, Chang Jok Lee, Bob Hsiang, Garrett Mason Lee, Yu Ying Yu, and CK Liang. 

Highlights of the imagery featured in the artwork include: 

• Portrait of Mary Tape, a desegregationist based first in San Francisco’s Chinatown, then in Berkeley, CA, who fought for Chinese Americans’ access to education, notably in the 1885 Supreme Court of California case, Tape v. Hurley, 70 years before Brown v. Board of Education. 
• Garden landscape as symbols of beginnings, growth, and sustainability; trees and foliage represent indigenous and transplanted flora, suggesting hybrid cultures as a part of 21st Century city life. 
• Maps of early San Francisco Chinatown, the broader city and the world beyond, situating Chinatown’s cultural significance in a global context. 
• Portraits of students from the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station’s neighboring building, Gordon J. Lau Elementary School. 

The Central Subway Project, completed in 2022, connects the Muni Metro T Third Line from Chinatown to Sunnydale, providing a direct, rapid transit link between downtown and the some of the city's busiest, most densely populated areas, including Union Square, SoMa, Mission Bay, Dogpatch, and Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods. 

In collaboration with the SFMTA, the Arts Commission managed the selection and implementation of a diverse and exciting public art program that includes ten permanent site-specific artworks by twelve artists at Chinatown-Rose Pak, Union Square/Market Street, Yerba Buena/Moscone, and 4th & Brannan stations. 

 “We’re proud that the Central Subway project added so many new works to the City’s incredible collection of public art. And we’re grateful to the Arts Commission for working with Tomie Arai to bring these amazing community inspired pieces to celebrate Chinatown Rose-Pak Station,” said Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA Director of Transportation. 

The works created for the Central Subway project range from large-scale photography, kinetic and traditional sculptures, murals and illuminated installations, the commissioned artworks each depict the character of the station neighborhoods, its history, residents, and the creativity and breadth of Bay Area contemporary arts. 

The artwork at the façade of Chinatown-Rose Pak Station is approximately 120 feet in length with a height ranging from 4 to 8 feet, totaling approximately 700 square feet. 

The artwork project budget for Arrival was approximately $571,000, which was inclusive of design, fabrication, and transportation. The artwork glass was fabricated by Moon Shadow Glass with support from Magnolia Editions.  

Funding for Central Subway Public Art was made possible through the Art Enrichment Ordinance (2%-for-public-art), which ensures that two percent of the gross construction cost of civic buildings, transportation improvement projects, new parks, and other above-ground structures such as bridges, be allocated for public art. 

The installation of the artwork was made possible with the help of San Francisco Public Works, which led construction management. 

“Both art and public transit have the ability to move and connect us, and this showstopping, thoughtful installation sits at the intersection of the two,” said Public Works Director Carla Short. “We are thrilled to have been able to play a part in bringing this project to life, helping add another layer of beauty, history and kinship to this community’s already rich cultural tapestry.”

The second phase of Arrival will be installed in early 2026 on the platform level of the station with glass panels approximately 17 feet wide and 15 feet high at each end of the platform. These works draw upon historical imagery illustrated through the traditional symbols for heaven and earth in Chinese culture – the circle and square. On the north platform wall, Arai includes images of the early settlement of San Francisco, the gold rush, immigration to the United States through Angel Island, and the great earthquake. On the south platform, the work celebrates the resilience of the community of Chinatown and greater San Francisco through a collage of images from 1906 to the present. 

Other works featured at Chinatown-Rose Pak station include Yangge: Dance of the Bride and Yangge: Dance of the New Year, two large laser-cut metal artworks based on intricate traditional Chinese paper cuts painted a vibrant red, by Yumei Hou, and A Sense of Community, a ceramic tile mural for the crosscut cavern wall at the concourse level, by Clare Rojas. 

*High-resolution images of all Central Subway Public Art available is on Flickr. 

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About the Artist
Tomie Arai is a public artist who lives and works in NYC and has designed both temporary and permanent public works of art for Creative Time, the US General Services Administration Art in Architecture Program, the NYC Percent for Art Program, the Cambridge Arts Council, the MTA Arts for Transit Program, the New York City Board of Education, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Arai’s work has been exhibited nationally and is in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Japanese American National Museum, the Williams College Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2015, Arai co-founded the cultural collective, The Chinatown Art Brigade with artists Betty Yu and ManSee Kong. 

About the San Francisco Arts Commission  
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Public Art, SFAC Galleries, and Art Vendor Licensing. To learn more, visit sfartscommission.org. 

About The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is a department of the City and County of San Francisco responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the city. The SFMTA has oversight over the Municipal Railway (Muni) public transportation, as well as bicycling, paratransit, parking, traffic, walking, and taxis. We serve San Francisco by creating transportation options that are constant, practical and everywhere; we connect people with their community to enhance the economy, environment and quality of life. We operate today’s transportation system and work with our partners to plan the transportation system of tomorrow. 

About San Francisco Public Works 
As a 24/7 operation with a diverse set of responsibilities, Public Works touches every neighborhood in San Francisco. The staff designs and manages construction of civic buildings and streets, cleans and greens the right of way and keeps it free of hazards, maintains civic buildings, trains people for jobs, paves the streets, repairs bridges and public stairways, expands accessibility and works on addressing some of San Francisco’s biggest challenges.

 

舊金山於華埠白蘭站隆重揭幕全新大型玻璃藝術裝置 
向華埠歷史致敬 

舊金山藝術委員會及市交通局慶祝藝術家新居富江 (Tomie Arai)  期待已久之作品《到來》(Arrival)，首階段完成安裝 

【舊金山訊】—  今日，舊金山藝術委員會（SFAC）、舊金山交通局（SFMTA）、市府官員及社區領袖齊聚華埠白蘭 Muni 地鐵站，慶祝首階段永久性大型玻璃藝術裝置《到來》(Arrival)正式完成安裝。這件與建築空間融合的藝術作品，呈現並禮讚華埠及鄰近地區深厚的文化與歷史，展現社區多元背景與深遠意義。 

《到來到來》(Arrival)，由國際知名、長駐紐約的藝術家兼社運活動家 新居富江 創作，作品以建築玻璃形式呈現歷史與當代圖像，設於華盛頓街與士德頓街交界Muni車站外的頂棚圍墻。 

市長羅偉(Daniel Lurie) 表示：「此項目充分展示了舊金山的移民經歷與歷史。華埠白蘭站不僅是交通與社區樞紐，如今更以動人藝術迎接市民與旅客。這幅壁畫體現了舊金山的文化底蘊，以及歷代移民對華埠與本市的重要貢獻。」 

作為全美歷史最悠久的華埠，舊金山華埠如同許多多元移民社區，是世界的縮影。Muni 車站入口處的藝術作品宛如長卷般展開，橫跨車站三面外牆，首幅圖像描繪加州海岸與舊金山灣區 —— 亞洲移民登岸的歷史門戶。圖像延伸至士德頓街及華盛頓街，設計融合多品種樹木與花卉，象徵蓬勃的花園與對嶄新家園的希望，並向「平園」公共屋宇與房屋倡導者所做的長久貢獻表示致敬。畫面背景交織本地街道圖、舊金山城市圖及世界地圖，構成層層遞進的空間，襯托來自劉貴明小學的學生與多代社區成員的肖像。《到來》記錄這個社區歷史的演變，也象徵其邁向更全球化未來的進程。 

第三區市參事李爾德 (Danny Sauter) 表示：「白蘭站日益成為華埠交通與社區生活的核心。新居富江 的新作展現亞裔的經歷，體現藝術、身份與社會參與之交會。《到來》(Arrival)，必定進一步豐富此歷史社區的文化面貌。」   

舊金山藝術委員會文化事務總監 Ralph Remington 表示：「隨著《到來》(Arrival) 首階段完成安裝，亞裔社群對舊金山的珍貴貢獻終得以展現於世。這件特定場合的藝術作品不僅反映社區，也將成為世代相傳的『活檔案』。感謝舊金山交通局與工務局攜手合作，促成實現此項重大的計劃。」 

為呈現歷史與當代圖像，藝術家與多個機構及各界人士合作，包括：加州州立圖書館、加州州立公園、國會圖書館、表演與設計博物館、美國華人博物館、加州大學柏克萊分校 Bancroft 圖書館、舊金山公共圖書館、史丹福大學、Alisa J. Kim 與 Tape 家族、Moulin Studios 攝影工作室，以及社區成員 Corky Lee、Chang Jok Lee、Bob Hsiang、Garrett Mason Lee、Yu Ying Yu、CK Liang。 

作品圖像精選包括: 

• Mary Tape 肖像：她是活躍於華埠及柏克萊的教育平權倡導者，曾於 1885 年在加州最高法院的 Tape v. Hurley 一案中，為華人學生爭取受教權，早於美國美國歷史性判例《布朗訴教育局案》(Brown v. Board of Education）七十年。 
• 園林圖像：象徵新開始、成長與延續；樹木與植物代表原生及遷移物種，寓意二十一世紀城市中的文化混合。 
• 華埠早期地圖、本市與世界地圖：置華埠文化於全球脈絡中。 
• 學童肖像：來自毗鄰地鐵站的劉貴明小學。 

中央地鐵計劃於 2022 年完工，連接 Muni Metro T 線由華埠至森尼戴爾 (Sunnydale)，為市內繁忙地段包括聯合廣場、南市場區（SoMa）、米慎灣（Mission Bay）、狗補丁區（Dogpatch）、以及灣景–獵人角區（Bayview–Hunters Point）提供直接快捷的交通連結。

藝術委員會與舊金山交通局合作，管理中央地鐵藝術計劃的藝術甄選與執行，共為華埠白蘭站、聯合廣場、會展中心站及第 4 街／Brannan 站委約十二位藝術家創作十件永久性公共藝術作品。 

舊金山交通局局長寇淑寳(Julie Kirschbaum) 表示：「中央地鐵項目為本市公共藝術收藏增添多件新作，我們感謝藝術委員會與 新居富江 攜手合作，創作出這些源自社區靈感的精彩作品，為華埠白蘭站增添光彩。」 

此計劃中的藝術作品形式多元，包括大型攝影、動態與傳統雕塑、壁畫及燈光裝置，呈現車站所在社區的歷史、居民及灣區當代表達的創意。 

《到來》(Arrival) 於車站頂棚圍墻全長約 120 呎，高約 4 至 8 呎，總面積約 700 平方呎。 

項目預算約為 $571,000 美元，包括設計、製作及運輸費用。玻璃由 Moon Shadow Glass 製作，並獲 Magnolia Editions 協助。

中央地鐵公共藝術計劃由《藝術增益條例》（即百分之二公共藝術撥款政策）資助，規定市政建築、交通工程、新建公園及其他地面設施須撥出建築總成本的 2% 用作公共藝術。 

藝術品安裝工程由舊金山工務局負責建築管理工作。 

工務局局長 Carla Short 表示：「藝術與公共交通同樣具有連繫人心的力量，而這件令人讚嘆的裝置正是兩者交會的精彩例證。我們很榮幸能參與此項目，為這個已有深厚文化底蘊的社區，增添一份美感、歷史與人情味。」   

《到來》(Arrival) 的第二階段預計於 2026 年初安裝於Muni地鐵站月台，屆時將設有兩幅玻璃牆畫，位於月台兩端，各寬約 17 呎，高約 15 呎。設計靈感來自中國文化中的「天圓地方」概念，北牆描繪舊金山早期聚居、淘金潮、移民經歷與 1906 年大地震；南牆則以 1906 年至今的影像拼貼，歌頌華埠及整個舊金山社區的堅韌精神。 

華埠白蘭站亦展出其他藝術作品，包括：侯玉梅創作、以中國剪紙為靈感的鐳射切割紅色金屬裝置《東北大秧歌之六: 送姑娘》與《東北大秧歌之二: 恭喜發財慶新春》；及 Clare Rojas 為車站大堂橫坑牆身設計的陶瓷壁畫《社區的感覺》(A Sense of Community)。 

*所有中央地鐵公共藝術高解像度圖片可於舊金山藝術委員會的 Flickr 頁面下載。 

 

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關於藝術家 
新居富江 是長駐紐約的公共藝術家，曾為多個機構創作臨時及永久性藝術，包括 創意時間 (Creative Time)、美國總務署建築藝術計劃 (US General Services Administration Art in Architecture Program), 紐約市百分之一藝術計劃 (NYC Percent for Art Program), 劍橋藝術委員會 (Cambridge Arts Council), MTA 藝術交通計劃 (MTA Arts for Transit Program), 紐約市教育局及舊金山藝術委員會。Arai 作品曾於全美展出，並獲國會圖書館, 布朗克斯藝術博物館 (Bronx Museum of the Arts), 美籍日本人國家博物館 (Japanese American National Museum), 威廉斯學院藝術博物館 (Williams College Museum of Art), 現代藝術博物館 (Museum of Modern Art) and 惠特尼美術館 (Whitney Museum of American Art)收藏。她於 2015 年與藝術家 Betty Yu 和 ManSee Kong 共同創立文化團體「唐人街藝術隊」(The Chinatown Art Brigade)。 

關於舊金山藝術委員會 
舊金山藝術委員會（SFAC）是市府轄下機構，致力推動藝術成為日常生活不可或缺的一部分，透過投資充滿活力的藝術社群、為城市環境注入生氣、並制定具創意的文化政策。其項目包括：市政藝術藏品、市政設計審查、社區投資、公共藝術、SFAC 藝廊，以及藝術販售許可。欲了解更多，請瀏覽 sfartscommission.org。 

關於舊金山交通局（SFMTA） 
舊金山交通局（SFMTA）是舊金山市和縣政府轄下部門，負責本市所有地面交通的管理，包括公共交通（Muni）、單車、無障礙交通服務、泊車、交通管制、步行及的士服務。SFMTA 致力提供穩定、實用、隨處可及的交通選擇，促進社區聯繫，提升經濟、環境及生活質素，負責營運當前的交通系統，並與合作夥伴攜手規劃未來的交通藍圖。 

關於舊金山工務局（Public Works） 
舊金山工務局全年無休，職責涵蓋全市每個街區，負責設計與管理市政建築與道路工程、清潔綠化市容、維修建築設施、提供就業培訓、鋪設街道、修復橋樑與公共樓梯、改善無障礙設施，並致力應對舊金山多項重大挑戰。