I Am San Francisco:

Ron Moultrie Saunders

However, the city’s black population is diminishing, so much so that in 2010, a local paper estimated that the black population would eventually fall to 3.9 percent of the city’s total. This statistic caught the eye of Bayview artist Ron Moultrie Saunders and a group of his fellow artists. Ron teamed up with Nancy Cato, Rodney Ewing, Sirron Norris, and William Rhodes to form the 3.9 Art Collective. Their very existence is an act of resistance against the forces causing the African American population to dwindle.

A resident of San Francisco’s Bayview since 1985, Ron originally grew up in Jamaica, Queens. His artistic sensibilities, blended with his deep personal connection to nature, guided him toward the profession of landscape architecture. In later years, it would bring him to San Francisco, a place as diverse in the landscape as it is in culture. Landscape architecture requires one to work in concert with nature to design outcomes that serve the inhabitants of specific spaces. Ron’s work as a photographer and artist, in many ways, is in service of nature. His care for his subjects, whether discarded flower petals or a seed that has not sprouted, is guided by dignity and love. The outcomes he produces through the creative use of light allow nature to be seen anew. Through his work, the natural world’s intricacies and elegance become more accessible to the human mind and heart.

Today, Ron teaches art to the city's youth in hopes that the younger generation will work to preserve the artistic community as the city changes. The soul of the city depends on the strength of its culture. Ron knows this. His mission, and the mission of his fellow 3.9 artists, is to make sure the city never loses sight of what’s essential and what’s beautiful.