Refractions is a composition of photographs and an interactive inquiry which explore the fluid, layered and mutable nature of memory. In this series of traditional c-prints, by dwelling on singularities, banalities and almost obscure differences in light, Allee metaphorically refers to the evasive nature of memory: the way each moment is a replacement/displacement of the next.
In order to understand and incorporate the history of the Divisadero Gallery site, an interactive inquiry into the archaeologies of personal and institutional memory are being conducted. Anyone with experience pertaining to the block/street/neighborhood that the gallery now inhabits are invited to deposit their memories and/or comments through the gallery's mail slot. Comments and insights on memory itself are also welcome. Memories will be compiled and eventually presented back to the street as a "memory map".
G. Cole Allee is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. Her work explores landscape as cultural iconography and the shifting relationships between place, myth and memory; she has been exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Allee has lived and worked in San Francisco for over a decade, teaching photography to youth in the Mission District and Bayview/Hunter's Point, and to homeless and low-income residents of the city. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 and is a founding member of MicroClimate Collective, which creates visual arts programming hosted by Climate Theater.
Divisadero Community Gallery is a temporary art space providing solo engagements to emerging and mid-career artists. Due to the site's state of flux, the current curators echo the concept by inviting artists for one month to six weeks of residence time in the gallery while developing work and ideas. In this way, the overarching service provided the community is an invitation into the process of creating; forming reciprocal relationships between artist and their work, artist and passer-by, viewer and process, viewer and art.
The Divisadero Community Gallery is located at 537 Divisadero between Hayes and Fell in San Francisco. Hours are limited or by appointment. Parking is possible but public transportation is central.
