What happens when we feel empowered to take control of the narrative from Western doctrines and allow ourselves to ground into our own rituals and history? We may be charmed by what’s reflected out.
When Unearthed Sights Collide examines the exploration of such inquiries through the interpretations of two artists. Through installation, photography, drawing, and sculpture, Shirin Khalatbari and Sun Park surface and shape alternative narratives that question the established notions of religion and archeology.
Park’s installation begins left of the gallery entrance and walks you through their personal mythology and rituals. As you move through the installation, you’ll feel the guidance and luring presence of dragons in many forms. A nod to this year’s cosmological astrology, the wooden dragon. Take a closer look at the objects before you. Some are common and familiar materials, rice paper, a Lego piece, lychee skin, communion crackers, and so on. Some are natural and some are not, a true reflection of our existing world. All are treated with respect and displayed symbolically; they present Park and collaborator tani tane’s ritualistic practices. The installation leaves the viewer with the question of what feeds us spiritually and how we digest that into our bodies. Their work pulls from childhood experiences and narratives from literature that illuminate the act of consumption and invite viewers to reconsider the boundaries of identity and community.
Take a moment to sit on the smooth wooden benches and try to root yourself in the moment. If facing the fountain, you may be meditated towards another place or space. Facing the other direction, you may find a blurry reflection of yourself and start imagining other ways of being.
Curated by Shirin Makaremi Photography: San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries and Aaron Wojack
Unexpected Growth (Drawing of a painting I made when I was a teenger) 2024 Graphite on bristol
Apparent transformation is a river where things proliferate (Alice Sparkly Kat) 2024 Slime, rice, communion bread, jade and plastic beads, polyester thread, pine needles, paint, wire, pins.
With thanks to Chelsea America Torres
Collaboration with tani tane
becoming, unbecoming 2024
…bird beak bone, fossilized barnacle, tree branch, chocolate bar foil, dried seaweed, bell from Oñí Ocan by Courtney Desiree Morris, painted and chocolate wrapper foiled wooden wood, dried wheatgrass, pomelo peel, rice noodle, tree seedpod, glass sand, pinecone, found plastic…
…tape measure sheep from Danna Kim, gingerbread cookie, matchbox, wooden stamp, chestnut shells, rudraksha seed, bull tile by AJ Serrano…
