Absolutely Must See Event: I Live Here SF Retrospective

Photo by Julie Michelle

Awhile back I took part in Julie Michelle’s I Live Here SF project.  I’m hoping you just clicked on that link in the last sentence, but if you didn’t I’ll explain.  With I Live Here SF, Julie follows around various San Franciscans and photographs them.  She then picks her favorite picture and has the subject write about their relationship with San Francisco.  Afterwards she posts it on the website for all to see.

The pieces people write are often earnest, sometimes touching, and occasionally brilliant.  But the photography is always perfect.  The thing Julie does best is make people feel comfortable enough to open themselves up on camera, and because of this, sometimes her photos tell us more about the subject then what they actually write.  See for yourself, here is the one Julie did on me.

One of the things that makes San Francisco special is the way that so many of our lives intersect with each other.  Because of this, it’s been amazing to see how many people who’ve been Broke-Ass of the Week have also been featured on I Live Here SF.  Just look here.  I wish Julie could do all the photography for this site.  Everybody deserves at least one good photoshoot of themselves in their lifetime, and Julie is helping make that happen.

Alright, enough of me running my jibs about how amazing Julie is (I could go on all day), it’s your turn to see for yourself.  On Friday, November 5th, I live here SF is having a retrospective at the SOMArts Cultural Center.  Here are the exactitudes:

Over 170 portraits of the subjects who have participated will be on display, including selections from their personal stories. The exhibition at SOMArts Cultural Center will highlight a collection of the best photo work displayed as wall pieces and augmented by large-scale sculptural installations. Also included are works by another San Francisco collaborating artist, Chris Rusak. Using text, Rusak expands the vision of the I Live Here:SF project by manipulating participants’ stories to demonstrate the inner structure of the city’s collective experience. His printmaking is a metaphor for the story-collecting process of photography.

I’ll be there for sure.  Pretty much everyone who’s been featured on I Live Here SF will be there, so I reckon it’s gonna be one of those San Francisco events where you’ll run into all those random people you haven’t run into for awhile.  Hopefully I’ll run into you there too.

I Live Here SF Retrospective
SOMArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan St.btw 8th & 9th Sts.
[South of Market]
Friday, 11/5
6pm-9pm
FREE