March 2008 - June 2008
Photographer Barbara Boissevain creates images that heighten a viewer's sense of reality. Her camera's lens sweeps across the image plane and captures approximately 150 degrees, which correlates almost exactly with what our eyes see. The movement of the lens creates significant distortion—the sky becomes vast; the horizon bends over the ocean; and one appears to be standing on the edge of the world.
Boissevain celebrates the visual poetry of the ancient Aegean islands through her panoramic photography. Boissevain's photographs reveal the rugged, wind-swept beauty of Greece and especially the Cycladic Islands, images that captivated the artist for months after her visit in 1995.
The special quality of the light in Greece has been venerated for centuries. Boissevain, overwhelmed by her experience, writes: "In the Cyclades this phenomenon is even more apparent, where the white-washed structures and the Mediterranean [Sea] conspire to reflect light off of every surface and at every angle."
Over the years, Boissevain kept her memory of these precious islands alive, unchanged by the affects of time. Knowing that such places exist in a volatile world sustained her. She values the serenity and the unique quality of light found on these islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Island Light is the result of her return to Greece in 2005.
Photography is not permitted.
©2008 by the San Francisco Airport Commission. All rights reserved
This exhibit is beyond the screener checkpoint, where only ticketed passengers are allowed.