San Francisco City Hall

The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries Art In City Hall Program Presents  

Take Me Away

The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries and PhotoAlliance present Take Me Away, a juried photography exhibition comprised of over 100 works by regional photojournalists and fine artists. Eighteen artists were selected through an open call for submissions that encouraged photographers to reflect on both real and imagined spaces one might visit in order to leave the everyday. The chosen works represent a myriad of places to escape, ranging from virtual space to locations as close as home. In advance of the call for submissions, the jurors selected three established Bay Area photographers to present larger bodies of work. David Gardner’s series about people who trade stability for life in a motor home will sit beside Alice Shaw’s renowned series People Who Look Like Me, which depicts the artist stretching her own identity in order to look more like another person. Rebecca Horne’s domestic scenes contribute an unsettling and fantastical vision of daydreaming gone awry.  The exhibition ultimately examines human connections to respite, adventure, and fantasy, through ideas and spaces related to escapism.

Jury Members: Ann Jastrub, gallery director, RayKo Photo Center; Aimee Le Duc, galleries manager, SFAC Galleries; Thom Sempere, executive director, PhotoAlliance

The SFAC Galleries would like to thank the 167 regional photographers who submitted works in response to our open call for submissions.

The San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries’ Art at City Hall program began in 1996 with the goal of bringing artwork with a social conscience into the seat of government. Sixteen years later, Art at City Hall has matured into a premiere program for the exhibition of photography by local, national and international artists. Art at City Hall is funded in part by Grants for the Arts / SF Hotel Tax Fund.