Mareas is a permanent public artwork situated at the pedestrian entrance of the James R. Herman Cruise Terminal Plaza at Pier 27 installed winter of 2026. As the inaugural permanent archway along San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront, the sculpture was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission in collaboration with the Port of San Francisco.
As the first Mexican woman artist to be included in the permanent public art collection, I am honored to introduce conceptual and structural diversity to the landscape and to participate in this critical environmental dialogue.
The ocean serves as the conceptual focal point of this artwork. Translated as “tides,” Mareas interprets the refractive patterns of light through water into a monumental archway. Utilizing cascading blue tones, the sculpture captures the aesthetic of an underwater wave and marks the progression of time as it interacts with natural sunlight. The work is intended to engage with its environment through form and color while addressing the critical issue of sea-level rise at the boundary of land and water on the Embarcadero.