The Guardhouse, a former military station at Fort Mason Center, offers views of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and recalls its role as a point of entry for transpacific migration. Prevailing Winds honors the more than 300,000 Chinese immigrants who arrived via steamship during the California Gold Rush, prior to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Situated near Angel Island, where many immigrants entered the U.S., the installation commemorates their journey toward the “American Dream”.

Ren uses Joss paper, traditionally burned as ancestral offerings, to envelop the walls. Moved gently by an oscillating fan, the papers evoke the artist's childhood memories and transform the space into a temporal portal that connects personal memory to collective history. Drawing from the Qingming Festival, Ren's installation makes visible how the past resurfaces and circulates within the present, reconstituted through acts of remembrance and renewal.

On view March 23 - June 9, 2024
Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco


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