Christopher Statton is an American artist and arts administrator, community activist, and philanthropist, and activist based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. Statton is best known for his role in establishing San Francisco's oldest continuously running theater, the

Roxie Theater The Roxie Theater, also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie, is a historic movie theater, founded in 1912, at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. It is a non-profit community arthouse cinema. History The Roxie is o ...

as a non-profit during his four-year tenure as executive director, 2010 – 2013. In 2013 he was awarded the Marlon Riggs Award by the

San Francisco Film Critics Circle The San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC), formerly known as San Francisco Film Critics Circle, was founded in 2002 as an organization of film journalists and critics from San Francisco, California based publications. Included in it ...

for “his significant contribution to San Francisco’s film community through the

over the past four years.”

Ryan Coogler Ryan Kyle Coogler (born May 23, 1986) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is a recipient of four NAACP Image Awards, four Black Reel Awards, a Golden Globe Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture ...

also received the award for his film ''

Fruitvale Station ''Fruitvale Station'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by B ...

''. In 2013, San Francisco District 9 Supervisor

David Campos David Campos (born September 28, 1970), is a politician who is Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party. In 2008 he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where he represented San Francisco's District 9 (Bernal Heights, Po ...

awarded Statton with a Certificate of Honor for his “important and tireless work with the Roxie.” Statton resigned from the Roxie in 2013 due to health concerns.

Biography

Born with

haemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising ...

, Statton was one of the 6,000 – 10,000 hemophiliacs to be infected with both

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

and

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, ...

from

contaminated haemophilia blood products Contaminated hemophilia blood products were a serious public health problem in the late 1970s up to 1985. These products caused large numbers of hemophiliacs to become infected with HIV and hepatitis C. The companies involved included Alpha Thera ...

in the early eighties by the pharmaceutical companies that were producing concentrate factor VIII, namely the

Bayer Corporation Bayer Corporation (also known as Bayer USA) is the American subsidiary of Bayer AG. Its main offices are located in Whippany, New Jersey. In addition it has 40 fully consolidated subsidiary companies located in 19 different states. History Bayer ...

. Living with these diseases for all or most of his life (he's had HIV and hepatitis C since he was four-years-old) has led Statton to be a fierce activist for social and economic justice.

Community activism

In 2006 Statton co-founded the project Sidewalk Sideshow with Reverend Paul Gaffney as a project of the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy. The project produces music shows with San Rafael's street and homeless community. In 2013 Statton co-launched the Roxie Theater's Lights. Camera. Action! Awards to honor Bay Area social justice documentary filmmakers. The inaugural Awards honored the filmmaking team

Rob Epstein Robert P. Epstein (born April 6, 1955), is an American director, producer, writer, and editor. He has won two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, for the films ''The Times of Harvey Milk'' and '' Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt' ...

and

Jeffrey Friedman (filmmaker) Jeffrey Friedman (born August 24, 1951) is an American filmmaker. In 2021, he and Rob Epstein won a Grammy Award for their work on the documentary film '' Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice'' Career Jeffrey Friedman grew up in New York Cit ...

and filmmaker Hima B for the significant contributions these filmmakers have had in bringing attention and awareness to the challenges of those living with HIV/AIDS. In 2016 Statton was asked to be a part of the HIV Story Project, co-founded by Marc Smolowitz. The HIV Story Project has archived over 1,000 videos from survivors and others affected by HIV online at www.thehivstoryproject.org. Currently Statton is working with The Gubbio Project, which provides an average of 100 people from the street community with safety and rest on the pews in the sanctuary of St. Boniface church in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood each weekday from 6am to 3pm. The Gubbio Project also provides toiletries, blankets, clothing vouchers, referrals, clean bathrooms, and haircuts for its community. In 2015 Statton co-produced the event ''Blanket Statements, An Evening of Comedy with

W. Kamau Bell Walter Kamau Bell (born January 26, 1973) is an American stand-up comic and television host. He has hosted the CNN series '' United Shades of America'' since 2016, and hosted FXX television series '' Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell'' from 20 ...

'' to benefit the Gubbio Project. Housing Is A Human Right

Art projects

Statton is one of the core organizers and a member of the Board of Directors of the

Clarion Alley Mural Project Clarion Alley Mural Project' (CAMP) is an artists' collective in San Francisco's Mission District. The mission of CAMP is to support and produce socially engaged and aesthetically innovative public art, locally and globally as a grassroots artist- ...

(CAMP). In 2014 he collaborated with artists and CAMP organizers Megan Wilson and Mike Reger to create the mural "Wall of Shame & Solutions" on

Clarion Alley Clarion Alley is a small street in San Francisco between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets, notable for the murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project. History Originally called "Cedar Lane," the alley's name was chang ...

in San Francisco's

Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name i ...

to call out the city's government officials on the highly contested policies that are impacting the changing character of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In 2015 Statton collaborated with poet Tony Robles to create the mural "No Clear-Cutting Our Community" on Clarion Alley, protesting

Forest City Enterprises Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. was a real estate investment trust that invested in office buildings, shopping centers and apartments in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the greater metropolitan areas of New Yor ...

' 5M development in San Francisco's

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of the city's museums, ...

neighborhood. Statton has also created two murals on Clarion Alley with his collaborator Megan Wilson in 2015 and 2016 in support of "Housing Is A Human Right." In 2016 Statton collaborated with the San Francisco Poster Syndicate to paint the mural anti-Trump mural ''Cultivating Resistance'' in response to the election. In 2015 Statton and Wilson were invited to participate in the Geneng Street Art Project in

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

Indonesia, organized by Ruang Kelas SD. The theme of the project was "Gemah Ripah Loh Jinawi," which translates to a critique of the unprecedented levels of development and displacement, impacting farmers and the natural resources in the areas surrounding the city of Yogyakarta. Wilson and Statton were two of the 30+ artists to paint murals on the facades of the homes in the farming community of Sewon. Statton and Wilson launched the public project ''Better Homes & Gardens Today'' in fall 2014, creating a limited edition of 300 pairs of hand-painted signs with the word “Home” in different languages accompanied by a flower. Statton and Wilson state the project's goals to: “1) Heighten 'home' and the realities of homelessness; 2) Cultivate a dialog within communities and amongst disparate groups – especially with those in the tech sector who are having a significant impact on housing instability in the Bay Area - about the funding and policy change that is needed to help end homelessness; and 3) To raise money to benefit the Gubbio Project, the

Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco The Coalition on Homelessness is an American homeless advocacy and social justice organization that focuses on creating long-term solutions to homelessness, poverty, and housing issues in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1987, the group also ...

, and At The Crossroads, organizations working to address homelessness in San Francisco.” "Better Homes & Gardens Today" was included in the exhibition "Street Messages" at Lazarides Gallery in London as part of the launch of the book "Street Messages, edited by Nicholas Ganz.

Biography

Community activism

Art projects

References

External links