Metaphors of Recent Times
The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Art in City Hall program, in partnership with PhotoAlliance, are proud to present Metaphors of Recent Times: A Dialogue of the Personal, the Political and the Cultural. The exhibition features twenty works from PhotoAlliance's INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20 portfolio from 2023, alongside work by twenty-four artists that respond to themes present in the portfolio. The exhibition features a wide range of incisive visual perspectives from artists of diverse identities and background, each responding to the issues of our times.
Metaphors of Recent Times will be on display on the Ground Floor and North Light Court at City Hall through June 20, 2025.
A public reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibition will be held on the Ground Floor of City Hall on Thursday, Janaury 16, 2025 from 5 - 7 p.m.
The exhibition's themes are rooted in PhotoAlliance's 20th Anniversary portfolio of limited edition prints by local, regional, and international photographers. Curated by PhotoAlliance founder and creative director Linda Connor, the set of twenty prints was conceived as a distillation of the creative responses artists have made to the upheaval seen in our political, cultural, environmental, and personal spheres in recent years. INSIGHT/INCITE captured images of hope, challenges, resilience, and humanity.
Metaphors of Recent Times expands on the themes of INSIGHT/INCITE and includes new work that respond to the themes explored in the portfolio. A call for artists was held in the fall of 2024 and the jurors—photographers Linda Connor, Lewis Watts, and exhibition curator Beth Davila Waldman—selected twenty-four artists from a pool of 128. The selected works can be emotional, cathartic, and thought-provoking, engaging in a rich dialogue with current environmental and socio-political issues effecting people today.
The exhibition will feature work by Pablo Tapay Bautista, Renee Billingslea, Barbara Boissevain, Kennedi Carter, Mima Cataldo, Yu-Chen Chiu, Katie Cofer, Mark Coggins, Izzy Cosentino, Kelly Fogel, David Gardner, Stuart Goldstein, Christine Huhn, Judi Iranyi, Strele Laurin, Anni Lopponen, Darcy Padilla, Eric Robertson, Lance Shields, Nina Sidneva, William Mark Sommer, Liz Steketee, Rusty Weston, and Harry Williams.
Works from the INSIGHT/INCITE 20/20 folio are by Wesaam Al-Badry, Lisa K. Blatt, Leon Borensztein, Adrian Burrell, Jessica Chen, Sarah Christianson, Marna Clarke, Linda Connor, Binh Danh, Mercedes Dorame, Ed Drew, Germán Herrera, Marie-Luise Klotz, Wayne Levin, Amak Mahmoodian, Amanda Marchand, Paccarik Orue, J. John Priola, Zack Schomp, and Lewis Watts.
Image credit: (left) Lance Shields, Strange Nature, 2022. (right) Binh Danh, Two Brothers and a Mom, 2021.
About PhotoAlliance
PhotoAlliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the understanding, appreciation and creation of contemporary photography. PhotoAlliance events have been the meeting place for the San Francisco Bay Area photo community since 2002. They foster connections through public lectures by noteworthy photographers, a variety of workshops, portfolio reviews, and other timely public programs and symposia.
