Past Exhibitions

The Valley/El Valle: Photo-essays from California’s Heartland features 100 photographs, in nine photo-essays, two of which are historical and include images by Mimi Plumb and Lou Dematteis from the 1970s during the height of California’s farm labor movement. In addition to the photo-essays, curator Ann Jastrab was granted special access to the San Francisco Chronicle’s photography archive. The Valley/El Valle features twenty diverse prints taken by staff photographers over the past decade. The Chronicle images serve to emphasize the diverse citizens and lifestyles in the Central Valley and include subjects such as members of a mosque in prayer, Hmong dancers and rodeo stars. Additionally, ten large scale photographic banners located in City Hall’s North Light Court display a series of sweeping landscapes by Charlotte Niel that give perspective and context to the more intimate photo-essays located on the ground floor.

Now That You’re Gone…San Francisco Neighborhoods Without Us is presented in partnership with PhotoAlliance. This multi-faceted exhibition project features photography by Northern California emerging and established artists that captures various aspects of the built environment of distinct San Francisco neighborhoods without people. Now That You’re Gone… challenges viewers to examine their urban landscape in new ways, taking special note of the unique quality of light, the juxtaposition of historic and modern structures, hints of nature, evidence of our habitation and architectural details that help define San Francisco as one of the world’s great metropolises.

Joe Blum has been hard at work on the Bay Bridge’s newly constructed eastern span, but his tools look a bit different than the men and women that surround him – his primary tool is a Nikon camera. From the project’s inception in 1998, Blum has been dutifully documenting the process of its expansion, and intends to continue until the Bridge’s completion and formal opening sometime this year. The Bridge Builders' 80+ images capture the sheer physicality necessary to work in the midst of rebar cages and tower cranes. Men and women are documented in rapt attention as they leverage their weight against steel and concrete, muscles taut and eyes focused. The photographer has infused each of his photographs of the Bridge’s laborers with distinct nobility.