Artist Painted Mural Mapping Nuclear Colonialism
The Clarion Alley mural highlights the global footprint of nuclear sites and testing.
Updated on Oct. 4, 2026 in Nuclear
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Bay Area artist Victoria Canby has begun painting a mural in San Francisco's Clarion Alley depicting the reach of nuclear colonialism. The project, which maps 35 global sites harmed by atomic facilities and testing, is based on one year of historical research.
Why it matters
The mural aims to illustrate the interconnected history of nuclear impacts spanning from the first atomic bomb detonation in 1945 to present-day environmental consequences. It connects local communities in San Francisco to the global sites affected by nuclear power development.
The mural features 35 specific locations identified through one year of research into atomic power history. These sites represent a cross-section of global communities affected by nuclear facilities, bombs, and testing.
The players
Victoria Canby
A Bay Area-based Diné artist who researches the intersections of history and technology.
Kyoko Sato
An associate director at Stanford University who focuses on science and technology studies.
The details
Artist Victoria Canby, who is Diné, collaborated with Stanford University associate director Kyoko Sato to develop the project's iconography. The mural centers on a genie positioned in front of an exploding atomic bomb to represent the long-term, irreversible consequences of nuclear activity. The imagery is derived from a time map that aligns historical nuclear events with specific geographic impacts, ranging from the first detonation in 1945 to modern nuclear industrial sites.
Timeline
1945: The first nuclear bomb was detonated.
2023: Canby began painting the mural in Clarion Alley.
Next few months: Canby plans to finish the mural project.
The Tech Race
This project follows the trajectory established by academic research programs at Stanford University that document the global reach of nuclear technologies. It serves as a visual bridge between technical policy discourse and the lived history of affected communities.
The mural is located in Clarion Alley in San Francisco, where it is currently accessible to the public as the work in progress continues. Residents and visitors can view the evolving map to understand the specific global sites identified in the artist's research.
The takeaway
The project serves as a physical archive of the environmental and human cost of the nuclear age. Viewers can monitor the completion of the mural in Clarion Alley over the next few months to see the final representation of all 35 mapped locations.
Further reading
Explore the intersection of public policy and environmental history in our Nuclear section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Mission Local.
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