Wednesday, April 27 - May 22, 2016
Opening reception:
Wednesday, April 27th from 7-10pm
Artists:
Calcagno Cullen
Eliza Gregory
Chris Treggiari with Vero Majano
Adobe Books Backroom Gallery is pleased to present Transience, an exhibition of three projects by Calcagno Cullen, Eliza Gregory, and Chris Treggiari with Vero Majano. The artists in this exhibition are exploring the stories, struggles, and identities of people who are in the process of immigration through mapping, archiving, storytelling and sharing practices.
Calcagno Cullen is exhibiting a portion of a recent expanded project with North African and Middle Eastern Refugees living in a camp in Calabria, Italy. This project links the asylum seekers to the greater narrative of what it is to be Italian, and more so what it is to be human and in search of a home, in the hopes to further transcend the borders between refugee and Italian.
Eliza Gregory’s work comes out of two projects. The Testimony project is a multifaceted inquiry into contemporary immigration in San Francisco. It’s comprised of events, educational experiences, interviews, storytelling exchanges and images. Southern Exposure’s Community Arts Internship Program (CAIP) is an opportunity for a local artist to bring a group of students into his or her practice through a twice weekly, after-school classroom format. Gregory is leading the CAIP program this spring and through that has invited her students to collaborate with her on and improvise within the ideas that make Testimony.
In an ever-changing urban landscape, artists have used mapping and archiving as a tool to reflect upon, chart, and document these shifts in community. For this project artists Chris Treggiari and Vero Majano will continue this methodology through storytelling and mapping, focusing on Valencia Street’s evolution over recent years. The artists will capture these stories through the use of virtual reality technology, by utilizing a 3D camera to capture the stories and VR headsets presented in the gallery space for display.
As a whole, these three installations offer a varied look at contemporary migration and change. In an effort to create empathy and understanding, this exhibition illuminates what it is to be moving, shifting cultures, and resettling to make a place home.