This groundbreaking show will be the first exhibitpresented at the Smithsonian Institution to highlight
the Filipino American community and the work of a
Filipino American artist-photographer, Ricardo O.
Alvarado (1914 - 1976). The Alvarado Project
will display “Through My Father’s Eyes” at the
Smithsonianís National Museum of American History
beginning in November 2002.
The exhibition offers a visual tour of the Filipino
communities in San Francisco and the neighboring rural
areas with San Francisco street scenes, the City’s
Farmers’ Market, migrant farmworkers, Filipino-owned
businesses and community hall events during the Post
WWII era. There is an emphasis on the cross-cultural
exchange of gatherings involving the City’s diverse
ethnic communities, African American, Euro-American,
Latin American and Filipino American musicians,
workers and friends, to show that diversity which has
always been a characteristic of the Cityís society
at-large. The Alvarado Project is working with the Smithsonian’s
Asian Pacific American Program and the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition service to present
Through My Father’s Eyes at the Smithsonian in
Washington, D.C and to develop a 15 city national
tour.