Capturing Treasure Island - New Alfresco Photographic Exhibition Now On View at JCDecaux Kiosks Around San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, October 11, 2023 – Treasure Island is in the midst of momentous change to become San Francisco’s newest neighborhood. The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) and the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) are pleased to present a special outdoor exhibition of forty unique poster prints of images of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island captured by five Bay Area-based photographers: Cody Andresen, David Alan Boyd, John Chiara, Janet Delaney, and Mido Lee.

The posters are now on view and accessible 24-hours a day through November 30, 2023 at various locations throughout San Francisco on JCDecaux Kiosks. These captivating images highlight the growth and change taking place on Treasure Island.

An integral part of the island’s redevelopment includes a robust public art program that envisions Treasure Island as a new destination for the arts. Over the next 20 years, there will be multiple permanent and temporary art works commissioned.

“The Arts Commission is thrilled to present the stunning photographs taken by the five Photographers-in-Residence,” said Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs. “Each photographer brings a unique and thoughtful approach to the way they documented the island. Their diverse points of view beautifully capture and convey a previously unseen perspective of the islands to share with the public.” 

“With over 220 new homes completed, nearly 750 homes under construction and a cumulative total of 8000 new housing units on the horizon, Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island are undergoing once-in-a-generation transformations, “ said City Administrator Carmen Chu, who oversees TIDA.  “I want to thank the Treasure Island Development Authority and SF Arts Commission for collaborating on this visual exhibition.  Projects like these are important because they help document our City's history and they help capture moments in time that express the City's spirit of adaptation, opportunity and forward motion.”

A curated selection of the photographers’ work that were captured between 2022-2023 as part of the Treasure Island Photo Documentation Project will be exhibited in forty JCDecaux advertising kiosks located at various locations around the City’s downtown core, including along Market Street, Fisherman’ Wharf, and the Embarcadero, for a period of two months. 

“I am very pleased that we have selected five Bay Area photographers, each with their own unique style and artistic vision, to document Treasure Island as it is in transition,” said V. Fei Tsen, President of the Treasure Island Development Authority Board of Directors. “This particular year has seen a rapid transformation of Treasure Island and it is important to document the island for a future audience. Whether the photographs evoke a sense of what has been or what is in the process of changing, or even what is timeless - we will have an artistic and photographic story of our island that has been captured at this particular moment of time.”

As part of the Treasure Island Photo Documentation Project, five photographers were selected to document changes taking place on Treasure Island – from the landscape, to vistas, to architecture and construction. There are many things to highlight and honor, both natural and architectural. Many structures and buildings will be removed and replaced. New parks and ample new open spaces will be constructed. The views and vantage points from Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island are boundless with the bay and sky as a backdrop and the vistas of the City, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, Alcatraz, Angel Island and more. Bright sunlight and intense periods of fog and wind create a changing and dramatic environment of contrasts. The possibilities to reveal and document seem endless.

“This photography series is a marvelous way to see what’s really been happening out on the islands in recent years, and that is the evolution of a vital new neighborhood with thousands of new homes at all income levels, dazzling new parks and open space, and a brand new ferry service connecting the islands to downtown in the space of 10-minutes,” said Chris Meany, principal for Treasure Island Community Development, the city’s private-sector partner that is building all the new infrastructure.

JCDecaux, in a partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission and Public Works, allocates space on forty of the advertising kiosks along Market Street for public service campaigns and for display of public art posters by local artists.

"We are honored to continue this partnership with the City and County of San Francisco to provide a platform to showcase works by local artists,” said Francois Nion, Chief Operating Officer of JCDecaux San Francisco. 

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS 
Janet Delaney: Janet Delaney uses research, interviews and photography to record the untold stories of cities in transition. Both honest and poetic, her approach straddles the line between documentary and fine art. Delaney received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1981. She has taught widely and held a faculty position at the University of California, Berkeley for 15 years. (IG @janet_delaney)

John Chiara: Chiara developed a process that is part photography, part sculpture, and part event. It is an undertaking requiring invention in his tools and patience in using them. He creates one-of-a-kind photographs in a variety of hand-built cameras, the largest of which is a 50" x 80" field camera that he transports on a flatbed trailer. Once he selects a location, he situates, and then physically enters, the camera, and maneuvers in near total darkness a sheet of positive color photographic paper onto the camera's back wall.  Throughout each exposure, his instinctive control limits the light entering the lens. John Chiara received his B.F.A. in Photography from the University of Utah in 1995, and his M.F.A. in Photography from the California College of the Arts in 2004. (IG @john.chiara)

David Alan Boyd: David Alan Boyd is a digital multimedia artist who works primarily in the media of photography, video, and audio; thematically focused on the human relationship to the built and natural environment. His work is characterized by experimentation and innovation with the capabilities of digital cameras and processing, an expansive view of what constitutes a photograph, and a visual storytelling approach that looks for formal expression in the nature of the subject.

Cody Andresen: As an artist and photographer, with a background in urban planning, Cody is consumed with light and its relationship with structures and surrounding landscapes. He photographs small and large structures, urban infrastructure, and the natural environment that surrounds and supports these areas. Cody received his Bachelor’s of Environmental Design in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado at Boulder. (IG @studiopercolate)

Mido Lee: Mido Lee is a Taiwanese photographer, now living in the SF Bay Area working with environmental, historical, and feminist themes in photography and installation. She works in digital and film, videography, and interactive installation.  Lee obtained her MA degree in photography from Edinburgh College of Art and an MFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute.

The kiosk posters were designed by Ellen Christensen, a designer and Assistant Professor of Visual Communication Design at San Francisco State University, and printed by Electric Works, a renowned contemporary fine-art press located in San Francisco.

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About the San Francisco Arts Commission
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Public Art, SFAC Galleries, and Art Vendor Licensing. To learn more, visit sfartscommission.org.  

About the Treasure Island Arts Program
The Treasure Island Arts Program is a partnership among the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Treasure Island Development Authority, and Treasure Island Community Development. It is a long-term project focused on developing the island’s public art program and establishing a permanent art collection. The Arts Program is funded by 1% of the island’s redevelopment costs. These funds are used exclusively for the enhancement and activation of the public realm with art programming on both Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island. 

About Treasure Island Development Authority
The Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) is the public entity that is overseeing the implementation of the Master Plan for the redevelopment of Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island. As a part of the master plan, Treasure Island and neighboring Yerba Buena Island are being transformed into a new, environmentally sustainable, 21st-century San Francisco neighborhood featuring 8,000 new homes – including approximately 2,200 permanently affordable homes – and new restaurants and shops. Located in the middle of San Francisco Bay and featuring 300 acres of parks, trails and open space, public art installations, and exciting events, this visionary redevelopment will be a regional recreational destination as well as a reimagined neighborhood. More information is available at sf.gov/TIDA.

About Treasure Island Community Development
Treasure Island Community Development (TICD) is the master developer for Treasure Island — a partnership of Stockbridge Capital Group, Wilson Meany, and Lennar Corp. Learn more about Treasure Island at TISF.com and Yerba Buena Island at YerbaBuenaIslandSF.com.

About Wilson Meany
Wilson Meany is a boutique San Francisco-based developer of mixed-use, residential, retail, office and master plan urban infill properties. Among Wilson Meany’s signature projects are the historic San Francisco Ferry Building, the Art Deco icon of 140 New Montgomery, the massive Bay Meadows redevelopment and the former Hollywood Park racetrack. Visit wilsonmeany.com to learn more.