À Lure

Canessa Gallery is on the second floor of a pre-1906-earthquake building. It sat in the original heart of the Barbary Coast, and was witness to one of the most turbulent events in this country: the Gold Rush. Men came here by sea in the thousands, lured by the promise of riches, abandoning their vessels to rush to the hills filled with gold. Some boats sank, others were turned into temporary stores, and later, tall buildings were floated on rafts resting on their shells. 

        I wanted to re-create the ambiance of one of those ghost boats, with sails flapping and fishing lures cast on currents. But I wanted the viewers to construct their own narrative, so there couldn’t be too many clues. The eight turning panels have a quote written in kozo fibers, in French, by T. S. Eliot.  I knit the net on broomstick handles.