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Exhibition

Sea Change: Photographs from the Collection

September 2, 2023–March 17, 2024
Floor 3

This permanent collection exhibition explores how photography registers change, bearing witness to cultural, political, and environmental shifts across time. Presented as a suite of eight transhistorical thematic and monographic galleries, Sea Change approaches the topic of change from various angles. Placing historical and contemporary work in conversation, the exhibition offers a survey of the history of photography that spotlights recent museum acquisitions and work by underrecognized artists.

Sea Change features works by more than fifty artists, including Takashi Arai, Jonathan Calm, Tina Barney, Guanyu Xu, and Zoe Strauss, as well as solo presentations of work by Ilse Bing and beloved Bay Area photographer Reagan Louie. Cumulatively, the show not only foregrounds how artists have used photography to examine moments of transformation, but also reflects the ongoing evolution of the museum’s collection.

 

Header: Zoe Strauss, Untitled, from the series Sea Change, 2010; collection SFMOMA, gift of Sandra S. Phillips; © Zoe Strauss; photo: Don Ross


Exhibition Preview

Zora J Murff, American Mother, from the series American Mother, American Father, 2019; collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © Zora J Murff; photo: Don Ross
Reagan Louie, Beijing, 1987; collection SFMOMA, gift of Bill Press and Elana Auerbach; © Reagan Louie; photo: Don Ross
Richard Misrach, ​Desert Fire #1​, 1983, printed 2016; collection SFMOMA, gift of the artist; © Richard Misrach, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Ilse Bing, Lamppost, Rue de la Chaise, Paris, 1934; collection SFMOMA, bequest of Ilse Bing Wolff; © Estate of Ilse Bing; photo: Don Ross
Zoe Strauss, Untitled, from the series Sea Change, 2010; collection SFMOMA, gift of Sandra S. Phillips; © Zoe Strauss; photo: Don Ross