THE PORTAL OF Sutro Baths

5 ECHOES

Sutro Baths is one of San Francisco's historic destinations. Everyday wedding photos are taken and people enjoy the natural beauty and ruins of the world's once largest natatorium, which was created by Adolph Sutro. When I began to look up this site, I found that the history usually started with Adolph Sutro, a white millionaire who once owned a twelfth of San Francisco.

However, we first must acknowledge that the land has been stewarded by the Ramaytush Ohlone people. We also must acknowledge that an historic moment occurred. A black man named John Harris sued Adolph Sutro in 1897 for being denied entry into the baths. John Harris won, with the help of the African American Assembly Council and underneath the Dibble Civil Rights Act, and this set the precedent for the civil rights bill many years later.

I use the alchemy of sound and memory to shift the soundscape of this occupied land, collapsing the barriers between past and present to unveil the untold stories the shores have witnessed. As a Black, queer womxn standing on the symbols of wealth and occupation, I want to honor those who came before, those who have fallen through the cracks of white lens of history, and celebrate the resiliency of my people.

SoundwaveSF

Soundwave NEXT explores space and time through TRANSLOCALITY The unfolding global pandemic has triggered an existential reckoning over our conceptions of place and human encounter. The escalating political, economic, environmental, and public health crisis has revealed a tenuous, yet insistent desire for connectivity across space and time. Translocality seeks to unite human and nonhuman communities in the Bay Area socially, physically, and sonically as a living network of sentient beings. This open call invites applicants to propose soundscapes to activate sound art in Bay Area locations to: • Recalibrate our sensitivity to living realities existing beyond the individual self • Connect us to the complex weaving of stories, histories, and ecologies of place • Investigate vestiges of memory materialized through objects, land, and architecture • Imagine future possibilities for collective transformation in the SF Bay Area As part of Soundwave’s continued commitment to support artists from underrepresented communities, we will prioritize BIPOC, LGBTQI, and disabled artists. Acknowledging the disproportionate effect the pandemic has had on marginalized communities, our goal is to provide support for works that use creative expression for collective liberation. To continue support, please consider <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=FPttcXQSIVJT6xoSJ6JkiEFwBHia1QFAWyw2p5VgJbfAi5sFY8batoU-Q9PZDYharxMraMtG2nVT01L7">making a donation today.</a>