Makibaka means to struggle. To resist. To defy. It is a word rooted in collective action and spoken through generations of Filipino resilience. From the demolished walls of Manilatown to the contested grounds of South of Market, makibaka is a lived directive - a refusal to disappear, a demand to remain.

This exhibition brings together contemporary artworks with community-held objects, memories, and movements. It traces the presence of a people who have shaped - and continue to shape - San Francisco through survival and the labor of building culture, kinship, and home. MAKIBAKA: A Living Legacy understands legacy as ongoing struggle, carried forward by artists, elders, mothers, tenants, workers, and youth.

The attempted erasure of Manilatown - a cornerstone of Filipino American life from the 1920s until its displacement in the late 1970s - did not mark an end, but a beginning. That effort to uproot its residents ignited a movement, galvanizing new generations of housing advocates, artists, and organizers. In its wake, South of Market emerged as a powerful site of resistance, led by women and sustained through intergenerational care. This history lives on in murals, protests, and daily acts of solidarity.

Presented by SOMA Pilipinas - the City- and State-recognized Filipino Cultural Heritage District - this exhibition is a continuation of that call to action. It honors those whose labor built the foundation we stand on. To gather here is to walk with them. The time is now to carry forward their living legacy.

Makibaka! Huwag matakot! Fight and fear not!