Kija Lucas, In Search of Home, Bristol 36
Courtesy of the Artist.
KIJA LUCAS
A Taxonomy of Belonging
September 17 - December 17, 2022
Exhibition extended until December 23, 2022!
Opening Reception with the artist: Sat. October 1, 3-7 pm
Location: Fort Mason Center, Building A
Artist Talk: Sat. October 22, 12 pm
This exhibition is generously supported by individual donors
Michelle Branch & Dale Cook and Dave Elfving, as well as
the San Francisco Arts Commission.
A Taxonomy of Belonging includes work from Lucas’ nine-year project In Search of Home, and consists of photographs of plant clippings, rocks, and other objects that explore the emigration patterns of her family, and Carl Linnaeus’ racial taxonomy. This body of work questions how the scientific frameworks society has inherited from Linnaeus misrepresents Othered communities, while specifically addressing the invention of race in his taxonomy of man. This racist categorization of human beings perpetuates stereotypes and continues to be used widely today. Lucas challenges the frameworks of scientific categorization and the resulting implications of belonging found within the language of “native” and “non-native” plant species. With these works, the artist interrogates how we choose what is considered “natural,” “beautiful,” and “useful.”
Artworks
Installation Views
About the Artist
Kija Lucas is an artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She uses photography to explore ideas of home, heritage and inheritance. She is interested in how ideas are passed down and seemingly inconsequential moments create changes that last generations.
Her work has been exhibited at Oakland Museum of California, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francico Arts Commission Galleries, California Institute of Integral Studies, Palo Alto Arts Center, Intersection for the Arts, Mission Cultural Center, and Root Division, as well as Venice Arts in Los Angeles, CA, La Sala d’Ercole/Hercules Hall in Bologna Italy, and Casa Escorsa in Guadalajara, Mexico. Lucas has been an Artist in Residence at Montalvo Center for the Arts, Grin City Collective, and The Wassaic Artist Residency. Lucas received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from Mills College.
Follow Kija on Instagram: @kijalucas
Press
Photograph • Kija Lucas: A Taxonomy of Belonging | SF Camerawork by Glen Helfand, December 1, 2022
48 Hills• Kija Lucas scans her roots in ‘A Taxonomy of Belonging’ by Ava Morton, November 17, 2022
San Francisco Examiner • SF Camerawork moves to Fort Mason to escape Mid-Market and launch more photo careers by Max Blue, September 26, 2022
KQED Arts & Culture Fall Arts Guide 2022 • Reports of Our Visual Art Scene’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by Sarah Hotchkiss, September 1, 2022
This exhibition is generously supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission
as well as individual donors Michelle Branch & Dale Cook and Dave Elfving.
