J. Manuel Carmona's “Girls Call The Shots” mural featuring Juanita MORE! was officially unveiled Saturday afternoon, across Steiner Street from Alamo Square Park, the finishing touches of which were completed late Friday night.
An audience — all wielding handed-out face masks of MORE!’s beloved French bulldog Jackson and including District 5 Supervisor Vallie Brown — celebrated the completion of the project yesterday afternoon, a partnership with tequila brand 21Seeds. Cookies, cupcakes, and a welcoming amount of (literal) shade that offered respite from the day's sweltering temperatures were all accounted for during the hour-long event.
Cloaked in a “casual daytime” look, featuring a black, trailing cape and headdress crowned with synthetic, ruby-red butterflies, Ms. MORE! mused the masses, bouncing from one conversation to another like a leopard frog hopscotching lily pads.
“This mural brings such life and color to this strip of Alamo Square,” she says to SFist about the expansive, multichromatic piece of street art, supported by the aforementioned female-lead-and-founded spirit company. “It means a lot to me that my face and Jackson’s are here, where so many tourists and residents frequent.”
Speaking of Jackson, the eight-year-old Frenchie — who doesn’t look a day over six— weaved through bipedal bodies, selectively socializing and attempting to consume everything within his snout’s short reach.
The serial philanthropist's drag mother, Glamamore, could also be seen by her side throughout the happening happening. GLBT Historical Society’s Executive Director, Terry Beswick, conversed with the crowd of forty-plus, all before giving an ode to MORE!, adding, too, that the museum's physical presence could (and should) extend beyond the Castro, nodding at the idea of erecting a second space closer to downtown.
Cheekily referred to as the “seventh painted lady,” the mural, painted by J. Manuel Carmona, sits on the corner Steiner and Grove on the side of a private home on Alamo Square. Carmona and his team were the winners of a mural contest sponsored by 21Seeds, in cooperation with the homeowner.
For more information and details on Juanita MORE!’s Mural Project — which this newest installation is apart of — visit juanitamore.com/mural-project.
See more images of the mural below, courtesy of SFist and shot by Kora Manheimer:
Related: Drag Queen Juanita More! Kicks Off Pride 2017 With Three New Murals In SF
