[Placeholder: living precariously]
This exhibition was a collaborative curation project that the 2024 senior cohort in Photography at Sac State worked on throughout the fall semester.
We couldn't wait to share it with you. There is an accompanying podcast episode available to listen with Building Justice (season 3, episode 14) titled, [Placeholder: Living Precariously]!
The gallery photos included are taken by Muzi Li Rowe.
[Placeholder: Living Precariously] showcased a collection of separate installations, covering themes of nativeness, autochthony, and the repair of society’s ruptured relationship to land.
Students used different photographic processes to capture native and nonnative plants, while exploring their personal relationships to these plants. They also embarked on a series of field trips throughout the region as a way to both investigate and experience different ecosystems and the community’s relationships to those ecosystems. Their work reflects their findings.
“Trying to locate something that’s missing is difficult,” says Gregory. “When I ask students to make art about the fact that most of us don’t have a relationship to the land we live on, that is pretty challenging. How can we see something that isn’t there?”
“These field trips have been an effort to fill in some of the blank space. Perhaps the right metaphor is echo-location–if we can at least bounce ideas and feelings and perspectives off this concept, perhaps we can identify the shape of the void. So we are starting with that, and with our own lives, and roots, and the ground we are standing on. We are connecting ourselves to land, to places, and to each other. We are searching for pathways toward repair.”
The opening reception took place on Thursday, November 30th, and the closing reception was held on Dec 9th (Second Saturday) at Verge Center for the Arts Gallery, 625 S St, Sacramento, CA 95811.
