Curator / Artist Talk and Reception: In Search of Great Men
with Ann Jastrab and McNair Evans
Opening Reception: Friday, April 15, 2016
5:00 p.m. Curator and Artist-led Walkthrough
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Reception
San Francisco City Hall, Ground Floor
Free and open to the public. No RSVP.
For In Search of Great Men, Evans, who studied anthropology in college, spent his self-instigated "artist residencies" getting to know his fellow passengers who he often invited to write down their story about why they were on the train and where they were going. An Amish family traveling to Tijuana for medical treatment, a single mother commuting to the North Dakota oil fields, and a teenage son hoping to reunite with his father are a few of the travelers Evans shared time with. Collectively, their stories illustrate a moving portrait of the American people, and illuminate shared-experiences amidst forces of modernization.
For his forthcoming exhibition at San Francisco’s City Hall, Evans worked with exhibition curator Ann Jastrab to select approximately 100 photographs and journal reproductions from In Search of Great Men. The artist states, "At a time when such travel may soon be only a memory, this show explores that search for something just out of reach and a bit intangible. It is about the desire for change and the possibility of hope fulfilled." Intimate and at time autobiographical, In Search of Great Men explores a search for hope that so defines our national identity.
