Bae

I can remember in the eighties when Women's Studies departments were popping up on campuses throughout the U.S., offering a breath of fresh air to the stale, stifling status quo of American education. Nothing, including language, was left unexamined and variations such as womyn, womin and wemoon were increasingly used as substitutes to associations with the male counterpart. In the nineties the trend shifted to the reclaiming of words such as bitch, cunt, and girl as terms of empowerment. This evolution continues through the current exhibit of nine artists at the Luggage Store. Bae (pronounced BAH-ay) is the root of three Tagalog (the national language of the Philippines) words: binabae, babae, and baein. Their meaning: to make, create, and become woman. Co-Curators Sarah Baltazar and Arel Gonzales explain, "Bae is an exploration of identity through people who live in America and express their realities with Filipina attitudes and sensibilities." The show is a rich, multi-layered take on femininity and cultural identity in the new millenium. Jenifer Wofford's large-scale installation "vas hermeticum" is made up of six panels that have been painted and overlaid with colorful, curvaceous paper cutouts set against a black and white wall drawing of concentric circles. The silhouetted and symmetrical images suggest shadows, voids and ghosts that loom in the space of absence. Terry Acebo Davis welcomes home the manong - the generation of men, known as the bachelor society, who came to the United States in the twenties, leaving their families behind. Hemp mats with the names of the estranged men painted in red have been laid across the floor. Sitting atop one of the mats is a single pair of bronze tsinelas (traditional women's sandals) - perhaps a symbol of reunion. Through a series of Xerox transfers taped together like a quilt and hanging against the wall, artist Rico Reyes is featured boogying down in his piece "Disco Shroud." At first glance the work appears playful and fun, yet with time a sense of so rrow pervades. Feeling a little quieter in mood are Christine Wilcox's elegant and sparse graphite drawings of small detailed images that explore family relationships. The show is also accompanied by several events that include an artists' talk on March 24th (3-5 pm) and an Open Mike performance in memory of Mike "Dream" Francisco on March 30th (8-11 pm). 

The Luggage Store 
1007 Market Street (near 6th), San Francisco 
Wed. - Sat. 12p.m. - 5p.m. (and by appointment) 
(415) 255-5971 (Megan Wilson)