“We are mothers and grandmothers. We are women who lived through turbulent times in our 20’s. Then, explored our passions through careers in advocacy. Now, we are women maturing into elderhood with strong life stories to be shared with the next generation of younger women.”

Members of Healing & Uniting Every Sista (HUES), a group at San Francisco AIDS Foundation,  came together to explore how to share their experiences as long-term survivors of HIV. Our women, our Mothers of the Movement, detail points of their lives, focusing on the 4 phases of womanhood—growth in childhood; the twisting & turnings of young adulthood; the Sisterhood years with the passions of love, friendships and careers; lastly, we learn that the phase of elderhood widens us into a balanced state between matured individuality and dependence upon others.

“We needed to draw our tree with big solid roots, because roots are the stories our mothers and grandmothers told us. Stories of their struggles and their hope and their joys. Stories of the hard, often violent injustices and inequities. We need to share these stories so we know that we too can and will survive. Hearing these stories is what makes us grow up with a strong trunk. That solid trunk branches out into four phases of womanhood. Each branch grows leaves, each leaf as unique as each person.”

“The Singing Tree Mural Journey has been a vibrant exploration of cultural identity and resilience for me.” 

- Ebony Gordon

Funded by San Francesco AIDS Foundation