Philip Sager takes old family photos from his childhood, blows them up to about 2 feet long and wheat-pastes them onto walls around San Francisco. Then he photographs what happens to them as rain, time and passersby take over. The results are on view in "Family Frames" at Foothill College's Gallery 6100 through Dec. 4.
The idea
Sager told the Los Altos Town Crier that the project grew out of family trauma from his childhood. He got up at 7 a.m. every morning to photograph the images as they changed. Strangers drew on them, tore them or left them alone. Foothill describes the show as an exploration of loss, memory and what happens to private history in public.
Sager is also a cardiologist, and he said his medical work shaped his eye. "As a cardiologist, I worked a lot with X-rays," he said, explaining that reading them means thinking in layers, like the layered graffiti on his photos. Foothill photography program chair Judith Walgren curated the show.
If you go
- Where: Gallery 6100, Building 6100, Room 6104, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills.
- Hours: Tuesday 3 to 9 p.m., Wednesday 1 to 9 p.m., Thursday noon to 5 p.m. Foothill asks visitors to schedule a time through the photography program.
- Artist talk: Nov. 4, 3 to 4 p.m., followed by a reception from 4 to 6 p.m.
- Online talk: Sager also gives a virtual talk for the Center for Photographic Art on Nov. 19 from 5 to 6 p.m.