About the Exhibit

This groundbreaking show will be the first exhibit

presented 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.