The June issue of San Francisco Magazine features a shoot I did with Duggan McDonnell, co founder of Cantina one of the city’s most popular cocktail havens. This was a great shoot, my first with Alejandro Chavetta, San Francisco magazine’s Art Director. McDonnell was an easy subject arriving full of Californian enthusiasm and ready to show off his new Pisco (a peruvian liquor) which will be in stores this month. We shot at Cask a high end liquor store in downtown San Francisco, a veritable candy store for the liquor connoisseur. We also shot in the Tenderloin district where McDonnell’s favorite old school liquor sign could be found. A taste test of Encanto was included and proved popular with the Irish photographer. McDonnell’s new Pisco Campo de Encanto will be in stores this month.
Thanks to Ceri Garfield for photo assistance on this shoot.
‘Economica, Women and the Global Economy’ is a project run by the San Francisco based International Museum of Women(IMOW). The Picturing Power and Potential exhibition is the latest special project of Economica celebrating women as economic participants and agents of change. IMOV has teamed up with the San Francisco Arts Commission gallery to present an exhibition of work from 20 international artists that were chosen from 150 around the world. Jurors included Catherine King (IMOW), Jasmina Bojic (United Nations Association Film Festival), Linda Connor (Artist/Curator/Educator) and Meg Shiffler (SFAC Gallery). The exhibition opens on June 15th at San Francisco City Hall and will coincide with an online presentation of the work in the extensive ongoing Economica exhibit at the IMOV website. Out of 8 portraits of women from North Richmond that I selected from my Richmond v Chevron project 5 were chosen. I am honored to present these incredible people in this way.
So if you’re in San Francisco come along to the opening of what has been described by SFAC gallery director Meg Shiffler as ‘one of the most diverse and stunning photo exhibitions ever created for City Hall’. It opens June 15th with a reception from 5.30 till 7.30 on the ground floor of City Hall and runs until August 27th 2010. City Hall is located at 1 Dr Carlton B. Goodlett Place in the Civic Center of downtown San Francisco. You can take the BART or MUNI directly to Civic Center or buses # 47, 49, 31, 21, and 5 all run close. Biking also encouraged.
The International Museum of Women will launch the online exhibition on June 15th also to coincide with the physical exhibition at City Hall. You’ll be able to follow it here.
Many of you might know by now from a previous post that I’m currently working on a personal project about the communities of Richmond, California and their ongoing struggle with Chevron corporation. Here I’ve included a piece with some video and photos of the story so far. Chevron is looking to expand it’s processing of dirtier crude at it’s Richmond facility. Last fall the people of Richmond with the help of the West Counties Toxics Coalition, Asian Pacific Environmental Network and Communities for a Better Environment filed a lawsuit against Chevron and the City of Richmond over the potential health impacts of such a proposal.
This is the story of a community struggling with the oil refinery in their backyard. Chevron wants to process dirtier crude at their Richmond, California facility and local residents are against it saying increased risks to their health have not been properly assessed. The residents are looking for a way forward that benefits the community and ensures economic and environmental sustainability.
The good news is that on April 26th 2010 the California State Court of Appeals upheld the findings of a lower court decision that the Environmental Impact Report provided by Chevron violated state environmental law in it’s inadequacy. This is a major victory for the residents of Richmond but this story is not over yet. Chevron has been invited by the Attorney general and state legisaltors to come to Sacramento to negotiate with all concerned parties and come to a fair deal that would protect community health and get people back to work. They continue to delay.
With the current BP disaster we’re reminded of the urgent need to reduce our dependency on oil and seek cleaner alternative energy sources. As California’s largest polluter the EPA reported nearly 100,000lbs of toxic waste from the Richmond plant in 2007, damaging the health of people who live there. Asthma rates in Richmond are twice the national average. Chevron in Richmond, like oil companies everywhere cannot continue with business as usual. Its up to all of us everywhere to seek economic sustainability that is also environmental sustainability. That is what the people of Richmond seek. Not much to ask. However for a behemoth oil company like Chevron with a string of human rights abuses in Burma, Nigeria, Chad as well as toxic poisoning in Equador, Missisippi, Thailand, California to name a few, doing business in an equitable and sustainable manner is obviously not something high on their agenda. It’s up to us to change that.
Meanwhile this project continues. Please see photos from the project here.
