It may be turning 75 this year, but the Harvey Milk Photo Center (50 Scott St.) is not slowing down. In as many weeks, the Center will curate three different shows.
Tame Iti
This Thursday night will see the debut of works by New Zealand-based photographer Birgit Krippner. The show is titled “Tame Iti” after the Tūhoe Māori activist and artist.
“Tame Iti” will feature about 30 photographs Krippner first displayed in New Zealand earlier this year as part of a collaboration with Tame Iti. "Krippner’s photos in this exhibition document a very important time in Tuhoe’s history. Tūhoe’s 2014 treaty settlement with the Crown returned Te Urewera, the spiritual home of the Tūhoe people, and marks the transition from grievance to a future promising greater opportunity and self-determination," according to a statement.
Krippner is flying in from New Zealand to be in attendance at the opening party this Thursday, April 2nd at the Harvey Milk Photo Center. The show will be up until April 26th.
Birgit Krippner
Birgit Krippner
Birgit Krippner
High Water Line
A week later, on April 9th, the HMPC will be hosting an opening party for “High Water Line,” a new show featuring the work of local photographer (and HMPC teacher) Spencer Aldworth Brown that will be up until May 2nd.
Wearing a wetsuit and shooting with a waterproof camera, Brown floated the coastline from Hunter’s Point to Ocean Beach to capture San Francisco from a bay’s-eye view. "San Francisco is photographed a million times per day, probably literally a million times per day," Brown told Hoodline. "I wanted to do a series of the city in a way that was both recognizable and unique. I had everything I needed to shoot from the water, so I started, one roll per float. It took about a year to get enough shots for the show."
“Instead of looking out at the water, you’re looking in at the land,” Dave Christensen, the HMPC’s director, told Hoodline about why he was intrigued by Brown’s photographs. “It shows how the elements surround us. There’s a lot more of the water than there is of the land. That really rang true to me.”
Spencer Aldworth Brown
Spencer Aldworth Brown
Spencer Aldworth Brown
Coastal
All of that, plus a monthly lecture series and classes, and Dave Christensen and the Harvey Milk Photo Center still aren’t done. They opened another show on March 14th, “Coastal,” that runs through April 10th. This one is off-site at the McLaren Lodge (501 Stanyan St.), and features the work of artists with the 81 Bees Collective.
“Coastal” represents a whole different side of San Francisco’s coastline, judging by this statement about the show:
“The California coastal zone is a boundary or buffer zone between the sea and the land. It is neither one nor the other but rather a space by itself created by the melding of these two entities. This group of photographs reflects a very personal vision of what this space evokes."
Samantha Cooper
Marsha Guggenheim
All shows free to the public. Enter the Harvey Milk Photo Center via Duboce Park. Gallery hours: Tue–Thur: 4–9 p.m. Sat: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Sun: 12–5:30 p.m. McLaren Lodge gallery hours: Mon–Fri 9–5 p.m.
