A STRANGE VIBRATION: LENN KELLER, DARCY PADILLA, ELIZABETH SUNFLOWER

Wed., Jan 22 - Tues., April 30, 2025

A Strange Vibration brings to light work by three photojournalists documenting Bay Area women and queer lives at the margins from the 1970s through the 1990s.

Lenn Keller was a self-taught photographer who documented the Queer Liberation Movement through the eyes of a radical black lesbian, and her work now forms the core of the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, housed in Oakland. Darcy Padilla’s work follows life in the Tenderloin’s Ambassador Hotel in the 1990s, where people with AIDS and HIV took care of one another during the peak of the AIDS crisis in the United States. Elizabeth Sunflower’s archive has recently been rediscovered; with a focus on her Naked Seduction series, tracking the antics and activism of sex workers in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. Works from each photographer will contextualize their relationships with the communities they documented from outside and within.

Presented in collaboration with the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, Ricki Blakesberg & Retro Photo Archive

“A Strange Vibration” Closing Reception + “Image as Activism” Panel Discussion
Saturday, April 19th

Celebrate the closing of our impactful exhibition “A Strange Vibration” with extended gallery hours and a powerful panel discussion about “Image as Activism”.

The panel will feature: Tracy Brown (Visual Artist, Activist, Educator, and Curator), Mattie Loyce (Curator, Facilitator, Community Advocate, and Community Development Manager at DISH), plus Kerby Lynch (Executive Director at Bay Area Lesbian Archives, Lecturer, and Author), in conversation surrounding themes explored in the exhibition.

When: Saturday, April 19th 2025, 7pm- 9pm
Where: SFC Gallery; Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture

This event is free and open to the public, RSVP below.

Exhibition Opening + Panel Discussion

SF Camerawork is honored to present “A Strange Vibration”, with works by Lenn Keller, Darcy Padilla, Elizabeth Sunflower.

Join us for the opening reception and a panel discussion with Ricki Blakesberg (Creative Director, Retro Photo Archive), Kerby Lynch (Executive Director, Bay Area Lesbian Archives), Darcy Padilla (featured Artist, and Associate Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin- Madison); moderated by Renaikha Cruz Fermin (Executive Director, SF Camerawork).

When: Saturday, January 25th 2025, 10am-12pm
Location: SF Camerawork

*If you have any questions about this event please email info@sfcamerawork.org.