In December, I did three large installations for the San Francisco office of a Big Four accounting firm. Each of their three executive boardrooms got a totally different style of installation. All three explored themes relating to the Bay Area.
This salon-style gallery wall, titled “Halfway to the Stars,” explores some of the many facets of California’s rich cultural history. Hidden amongst the abstract shapes and patterns are recognizable landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, and the California poppy. Less obvious motifs and symbols include: Ohlone shellmounds, to honor the unceded Indigenous territory we currently occupy. The pink triangle, for San Francisco’s history of LGBTQ and AIDS activism. Railroad tracks, to recognize the labor of Chinese immigrants who built much of the state’s early infrastructure. And rows of crops, to acknowledge the Latinx farmworkers who grow our food.
