Rosewater was the inaugural exhibition in the gallery space that was formally Et Al, which I am calling in 3 consecutive breaths; Climate Control, Being in life without wanting the world and Fear.

A fire in the forest at night.
a home and a wound
and a place
here

ripping open.
screaming.
drumming.
eyes open.
eyes closed

if you drive across the bridge at sunset
you will see the sun’s breath in the fog
if you open the window

a rosewater mist
falling on your face

Artists:
Trinh T. Minh-ha
Minia Biabiany
Alejandro Antón
Ruth Angel Edwards

We are sharing documentation of our inaugural exhibition, Rosewater. The exhibition included 5 video works by 4 international artists (Trinh T. Minh-ha, Minia Biabiany, Alejandro Antón, Ruth Angel Edwards) in 3 separate viewing rooms. Each viewing room exhibited all 5 videos one after the other on a loop. Due to the varying lengths of the works, the show had a rhythm to the experience that was always in flux. For me, as I sat in the gallery, this brought each work into conversation in exciting and surprising ways as they met and slid by each other throughout the course of the day.

Each work is a unique meditation of place and self. Each work is hard to separate from the artist’s own life and engagement with their home city, country, or colonized island. This close connection brings with it a passion, even love, for place. Those places that define us and the stories that we are told and rewrite that define these places to us. Each work is a revision, and an expansion, of the narrative. Mihn-ha looking at Vietnam, Biabiany the island of Guadeloupe, Antón Mexico City, and Angel Edwards London; it was deeply fulfilling for me to bring these artists and these stories to San Francisco. Moving back to the city 8 months ago, these works and the conversations that I have had with you all about them have given me tools and helped me to understand my home again.

Rosewater continues to be on view in a different configuration in the back gallery.

List of works:
Trihn T Mihn-ha

A Tale of love, 1995
108 minutes

Minia Biabiany
Toli Toli, 2018
HD Video, 10 minutes

Alejandro Antón
Voz Fantasma (A Sleeping Forest), 2020
Digital Video, 18 minutes

Ruth Angel Edwards
St Pancras Widescreen, 2023
Digital Video, 11 minutes

Ruth Angel Edwards
Trip in Me, 2020
Digital Video, 11 minutes

Downloadable PDF