John Chiara: Bay Panel — Co-presented by Haines Gallery @ SF Camerawork

SF Camerawork × Haines Gallery are pleased to present John Chiara: Bay Panel, a new solo exhibition by the celebrated Bay Area photographer. The second of two collaborative exhibitions presented at SF Camerawork’s gallery at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, the exhibition centers Chiara’s singular practice and his sustained engagement with the landscapes and histories of Northern California.

John Chiara: Bay Panel centers on the six-part horizontal work from 2020 of the same title, originally commissioned by the Pilara Family Foundation for an exhibition in their former space. Shown only briefly before being placed in storage, the work will now return to public view for the first time. Stretching over 24 feet in length, Bay Panel offers a sweeping meditation on the San Francisco Bay and the city’s layered photographic history. Referencing the panoramic traditions of nineteenth-century photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge, Chiara’s work captures the Bay’s shifting atmosphere alongside markers of urban development and commercial exchange, including the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco’s distinct skyline, and passing cargo ships viewed from various vantage points across the Bay. At once ethereal and finely detailed, Bay Panel highlights the dynamism and beauty of the Bay Area itself. Additional photographs included in the exhibition further demonstrate Chiara’s singular practice and his sustained engagement with the landscapes and histories of Northern California.