Jeffrey Gibson 433-foot vinyl mural to wrap former Bloomingdale's façade in SoMa

A 433-foot printed vinyl mural by Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson is being installed across the former Bloomingdale’s façade on Mission Street in SoMa, visible to anyone passing through the downtown corridor. The work measures roughly 433 feet by 66 feet and repurposes stills from Gibson’s video project THIS BURNING WORLD, creating a continuous image that wraps the long storefront and alters a prominent stretch of the commercial spine.

The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, Yerba Buena Partnership and the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation collaborated on the installation, which organizers intend to use to brighten the block ahead of and after the San Francisco Centre’s closure. The mural is expected to be unveiled Feb. 2 and will remain in place for at least one year, keeping the façade active through early 2027 at minimum.

The scale and placement of the mural matter in a neighborhood where vacant storefronts and construction sites shape daily life. Mission Street in SoMa is a high-visibility corridor for transit riders, office workers and tourists, and a 433-foot image alters the visual experience for commuters on Market Street and pedestrians near the Powell Street BART and Muni connections. The use of a former department store façade for public art repurposes commercial real estate for civic benefit, offering a temporary cultural amenity while the San Francisco Centre transitions.

Jeffrey Gibson’s practice, here presented through stills from THIS BURNING WORLD, brings an Indigenous perspective to a central downtown site. The choice of a Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee artist for a major visible work intersects with wider conversations about representation in public art and programming in city-managed spaces. The collaboration between an art institution and downtown management groups demonstrates an approach to placemaking that pairs cultural curiosity with efforts to maintain pedestrian activity around retail corridors.

For local merchants and property owners, the mural will change storefront sightlines and could influence foot traffic patterns during the months it is on display. For neighbors, transit riders and visitors, the installation provides a momentary landmark and a new surface for photographs and social media attention. For civic officials and planners, the project is an example of how temporary art can be used to activate vacant façades and sustain a block’s visibility during economic transitions.

The mural’s unveiling on Feb. 2 will mark the beginning of a yearlong public presence on one of SoMa’s most prominent facades. As the San Francisco Centre closes and the downtown landscape evolves, this large-format work will offer a sustained visual intervention that residents and commuters will encounter through early 2027.