Nuanced Views On Opportunity in the San Francisco Bay Area
Making sense of education, training and jobs in the shadow of Silicon Valley
Status Update is a series of multi-platform exhibitions curated and produced by Catchlight around specific social issues. The first edition looks at visualizations of inequality and resilience in our own San Francisco Bay Area.
One of four parts. Read the intro essay Bay Centric and view Vol 1: Home and Vol 2: Place + Purpose.
STATUS UPDATE BAY AREA, VOL 3 // OPPORTUNITY
Here in the Bay Area, no one is immune to the destabilizing effects of money and markets. Capital privileges pedigree, and certain demographics are awarded room to grow while others are squeezed into obsolescence. Who can fit the mold of 21st century labor as dictated by Silicon Valley? The answer will be found in education as much as background, but a competitive local economy will surely up the bar to entry. Young people need schooling that takes into account the demands of an information economy. Our urban centers — themselves a product of another era’s industrial skill set — have already seen tectonic shifts in their structural and cultural makeup as they are coopted by opportunists intent on staking a claim to the California boom. Cash injections are a good thing, but the money attracted to our region should stand for more than just clever apps, vanity or convenience. Where is the Uber for delivering economic justice?
“San Francisco in particular has always been a boom-bust place. There have been historical moments where young people have just been driven to go there to follow dreams.”
— Laura Morton
The photographers of Status Update Bay Area bring deep perspectives and rare nuance to this conversation. Their works are a reminder that while the chance to succeed isn’t uniform, having the space to flourish is something worth fighting for. We invite you to take a look, absorb these stories, and, hopefully, to reflect and consider the opportunities that will allow us to survive and thrive together.
— Catchlight editors, Berkeley, Calif., April 2016
Wild West Tech
Laura Morton’s Wild West Tech looks at the legions of young people who move to San Francisco and Silicon Valley in search of careers in the high-stakes technology industry. Her photographs are intimate, telling portraits of tech “dreamers” and the Bay Area startups to which they flock. They are also a timely reminder that not everyone in tech fits the profile of gentrifier, and that speaking in absolutes is a practice best left to the bloggers. As Morton qualifies, “You have to give people the benefit of the doubt.”
“I’ve seen the city change. It’s sad to me. I’ve been here for nine years and it’s a different city. And yeah, there are a ton of tech people here and it’s kind of boring compared to what it used to be. But does that mean it’s those people’s fault? Not necessarily.” –Laura Morton
Common Core in Silicon Valley
What is the Common Core? If you’re a parent in this country you’ve probably heard of it, but the controversy-prone federal education initiative is notoriously difficult to see. Rian Dundon found this out first hand when he made the pictures for Common Core in Silicon Valley. His images hone in on the day-to-day reality of public education in the techno utopia, raising the question: If Common Core is education’s response to Silicon Valley, can it succeed in bridging the gaps between schools across the region?
“High school is also a place where kids are becoming adults. I hope people can glean a sense of individualism in some of the images — the idea that students are going their own ways and forming themselves personality-wise.” –Rian Dundon
SoMa Now
Janet Delaney is compelled to witness the changes taking place in her city. For over thirty years she has stalked the streets of San Francisco with a camera and a sense of duty — to honestly record the shifting undercurrents of urban experience there. With Delaney we are always looking at a particular time and place, and her straightforward approach leaves little to dispute. That matters because it wasn’t always this way. If the knowing faces of SoMa’s denizens indicate the resolve of a persistent past, the digitally enhanced facades of its corporate edifices are portals into a glowing future. Here the spirits of another San Francisco are never far from view as Delaney’s unwavering eye excavates the layers of history spilling into contemporary space.
“My particular creative non-fiction is going to be the sewing together of this story of the city of San Francisco. I have to do it.” –Janet Delaney
The Interview: Jeff Adachi
Jeff Adachi has led the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office since 2002. We were fortunate to have the chance to engage in candid conversation with Mr. Adachi, the transcript of which was originally published in our exhibition catalog.
“I don’t know that we need to grow as a city. They’re talking about having a million people living here by 2025. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I see it changing and I think we have to look at conserving part of who we are.” –Jeff Adachi
See more photo stories > http://www.catchlight.io/statusupdate/bayarea
Based in Berkeley, Calif., Catchlight helps committed photographers and visual storytellers find their voice and master ways to help you hear it. We support the creation of innovative new documentary work, and produce unique ancillary material toward an enhanced viewer experience. Catchlight partners with media organizations, shares stories through traditional and contemporary platforms and organizes live and virtual events connecting visual storytellers to their audiences for more intimate and meaningful exchanges.
